ISIS Could Establish Own Currency Using Pure Gold and Silver Coins; Could Depreciate Value of the Dollar
Reports have emerged indicating that the Islamic State is planning to soon circulate its own form of currency in areas under its control, and plans to issue pure solid gold and silver gold dinar coins that it hopes will help devalue Western currencies.
As the British news website The Daily Mail reported on Monday, ISIS religious leaders recently announced to attendees of the group's controlled mosques that the organization will instate its own form of currency in an attempt to further solidify its caliphate.
The report states that the militants want to bring back and ancient form of the Islamic dinar, which were coins that was distributed in ancient Islamic societies that were first introduced in the year 634 AD under the caliphate of Uthman.
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Unlike the modern form of the dinar that is currently used in several countries, the ancient dinars were made of pure gold and silver rather than less precious metals like those that are used in currencies today.
Originally, the ancient Islamic dinar referred to just the gold coins, which were round in shape and were the equivalent to 4.3 grams of the weight of gold. The silver coins, which were also round in shape, were known as the Islamic dirham and were worth 3 grams of the weight of silver. Valuewalk.com points out that using either 4.3 grams of gold or 3 gams of silver in each coin is unpractical today and ISIS is more likely to use decreased amounts of pure gold or silver if they are to mint their coins.
Both the dinar and the dirham usually featured a religious message on one side and included the date that they were minted and the nation's supreme ruler on the other side.
Recent posts on social media accounts by ISIS followers and supporters indicate that the ISIS leaders unveiled their plans for the currency during during prayer sessions in mosques and in Mosul and throughout Nineveh province in Iraq, which is ISIS' biggest stronghold in that country.
As the Islamic State has conquered much of Northern Iraq and chunks of Syria, the Daily Mail article states the currency could be introduced in those areas in the next few weeks and would replace the current Iraqi Dinar and the Syrian Lira.
Although the Daily Mail article states that ISIS' media wings have yet to confirm the plans for the new currency, A tweet from ISIS supporter @Saged892 purports to show a picture of the new ISIS currency.
Although @Saged892's tweet was originally posted in Arabic, the news website Vocativ's translation of the tweet reads: "#Currency_for_the_Islamic_State -- in order to stomp on the world bank."
Twitter posts by other ISIS supporters are claiming that the aim for ISIS' new currency is to destroy the economies of their western enemies.
In translating a tweet from ISIS supporter @Abuabdellah7 from last Friday, Vocativ quotes the ISIS supporter as tweeting: "The Islamic caliphate will soon issue a currency from silver and gold. Soon your infidel economies will collapse."
Vocativ translates a tweet from @Mhooyalblaushi to read: "Oh my God, the euro and dollar will collapse in front ISIS' currency. You are so stupid."
Analysis provided by TruthInGold.com states that the possible new solid gold and silver ISIS coins have "the potential to weaken the dollar and increase the demand and interest for gold and silver."
BusinessInsider.com also reported that the new currency would mean more physical demand for silver and gold.
"Of course, this will mean more physical demand - along with Russia and China - and so more price suppression in the West," the Business Insider article states.
