It looks like coins are not the way to go these days when it comes to currency..
When it comes to coins, Isis is clearly not as good as gold
A plan by the terrorist organisation to issue its own currency – in gold – reveals a further attempt to play on the history of the early Caliphs.
BY JAMES DAWSON PUBLISHED 19 NOVEMBER, 2014 - 15:30
An Ottoman Piatsre (Sultan Selim III, 1789) and a Maria Theresa Thaler (later restrike of the 1780 coin). Photo: James Dawson
A cynic may say that what the leader of terrorist organisation Isis, Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and Winston Churchill have in common that they have attacked the Kurds but another thing may be the gold standard. It wasrecently reported that Isis plans to introduce its own currency, issued in gold, silver and copper. Though – unlike Churchill, who shortly will appear on the new £5 note and appears on the still legal tender 1965 five Shilling coin – Baghdadi won’t appear on his currency. The designs, in accordance with Islamic artistic traditions of not showing humans or animals, will apparently depict Arabic writing, mosques, palm trees, crescents and even a world map.
The plan seems to be a currency based on the bullion value of the metals in the coins, in contrast to all present world currencies which merely have a (widely accepted) token value. It is based on Isis’s interpretation of Sharia law and financial systems and deliberately emulates the currencies – the gold dinar and silver dirham – established by the early Caliphs.
The early Islamic Empire initially relied on Byzantine coins or copies of pre-Islamic Persian Sassanid coins. It was not until nearly 60 years after the death of Prophet Mohammed that they started to introduce their own coins. The Byzantines had pointedly placed the image of Christ on their latest issues and so the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus, Abd al-Malik, introduced a new standardised Islamic silver dirham in 691AD. The original coins, flouting any ban on human images, depicted the Caliph himself. It was not until 697AD that coins minted with only Arabic calligraphy were produced. These provided the pattern for most subsequent Islamic coinage. Though as the Islamic Empire fractured local rulers started producing their own money. Italian renaissance coins, issued to more exacting standards, started replacing local monetary systems in the late 1400s. Later silver dollars (Austrian thalers and Spanish pieces of eight) became widely circulated. The most popular Middle Eastern coin became the Maria Theresa thaler, the buxom image of the Holy Roman Empress being more popular with traders than Arabic calligraphy. The coin had a trusted weight set in 1754 at one-tenth of a Cologne Mark and continued to be produced following her death in 1780, its use for trade purposes being confirmed by the Vienna Currency Treaty 1857 (it is still minted today). The alternative coinage of the Turkish Ottoman emperors, who had assumed the title Caliphs of Islam could not keep up. It became debased, produced from billon, an alloy with less than 50 per cent silver. The Ottomans were also late in adopting Western scientific advances – they continued to produce imprecise hammered coins until 1844, only then introducing Western-style mechanically milled coins. Despite still ruling the Middle East, further decline led to the Ottoman Empire defaulting on its debt. In 1881 Ottoman finances were taken over by Western governments and corporations under the Ottoman Public Debt Administration.
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New Statesman When it comes to coins Isis is clearly not as good as gold?
When it comes to coins, Isis is clearly not as good as gold
A plan by the terrorist organisation to issue its own currency – in gold – reveals a further attempt to play on the history of the early Caliphs.
BY JAMES DAWSON PUBLISHED 19 NOVEMBER, 2014 - 15:30
An Ottoman Piatsre (Sultan Selim III, 1789) and a Maria Theresa Thaler (later restrike of the 1780 coin). Photo: James Dawson
A cynic may say that what the leader of terrorist organisation Isis, Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and Winston Churchill have in common that they have attacked the Kurds but another thing may be the gold standard. It wasrecently reported that Isis plans to introduce its own currency, issued in gold, silver and copper. Though – unlike Churchill, who shortly will appear on the new £5 note and appears on the still legal tender 1965 five Shilling coin – Baghdadi won’t appear on his currency. The designs, in accordance with Islamic artistic traditions of not showing humans or animals, will apparently depict Arabic writing, mosques, palm trees, crescents and even a world map.
The plan seems to be a currency based on the bullion value of the metals in the coins, in contrast to all present world currencies which merely have a (widely accepted) token value. It is based on Isis’s interpretation of Sharia law and financial systems and deliberately emulates the currencies – the gold dinar and silver dirham – established by the early Caliphs.
The early Islamic Empire initially relied on Byzantine coins or copies of pre-Islamic Persian Sassanid coins. It was not until nearly 60 years after the death of Prophet Mohammed that they started to introduce their own coins. The Byzantines had pointedly placed the image of Christ on their latest issues and so the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus, Abd al-Malik, introduced a new standardised Islamic silver dirham in 691AD. The original coins, flouting any ban on human images, depicted the Caliph himself. It was not until 697AD that coins minted with only Arabic calligraphy were produced. These provided the pattern for most subsequent Islamic coinage. Though as the Islamic Empire fractured local rulers started producing their own money. Italian renaissance coins, issued to more exacting standards, started replacing local monetary systems in the late 1400s. Later silver dollars (Austrian thalers and Spanish pieces of eight) became widely circulated. The most popular Middle Eastern coin became the Maria Theresa thaler, the buxom image of the Holy Roman Empress being more popular with traders than Arabic calligraphy. The coin had a trusted weight set in 1754 at one-tenth of a Cologne Mark and continued to be produced following her death in 1780, its use for trade purposes being confirmed by the Vienna Currency Treaty 1857 (it is still minted today). The alternative coinage of the Turkish Ottoman emperors, who had assumed the title Caliphs of Islam could not keep up. It became debased, produced from billon, an alloy with less than 50 per cent silver. The Ottomans were also late in adopting Western scientific advances – they continued to produce imprecise hammered coins until 1844, only then introducing Western-style mechanically milled coins. Despite still ruling the Middle East, further decline led to the Ottoman Empire defaulting on its debt. In 1881 Ottoman finances were taken over by Western governments and corporations under the Ottoman Public Debt Administration.
Continue reading at:
New Statesman When it comes to coins Isis is clearly not as good as gold?
Maybe you can plead insanity. 
That shouldn't be too hard for you.
