Why Dinar?

Bismillahirrahmannirrahim.

For the believers, the Dinar and Dirham is Allah's way. An Islamic way.
It is Islam's currency.
Its the money used in Islam.
And from it, stems an economic system that is Islamic
(Mind you, I did not say "Islamic Banking")
And, because we choose to be different from the non-believers, its good enough a reason to embrace the matter.
Whether we understand not the significance.
Because its what Allah wants, that's what I'd do.

Though, if one seek for the significance of the Dinar, one shall find it with His mercy.
Because unlike most things 20th century, Islam rides not on mankind.
Therefore, when one searches for the siginificance, one shall find it.
No fraudulence in Islam.
No theological make-ups, only truth.
Upon which, bowing down is victory!
And bowing down elevates.
InsyAllah.

Dinar are gold coins, and Dirham are silver coins.
Gold and silver are precious metals, which derives its value from its rarity and durability.
And so its value is locked, to the total amount of gold to ever exist in the world.
(I read that one could fit all the gold ever found on earth into a cube 20 meters on a side!)
Not a rare concept.
If you were to step back in time, there existed a period where trades could only be made when one has gold!
As Mr K was telling me lastnite, the Opium trade started when british refused to pay for Tea with gold, and so they had to trade with something the chinese wanted - Opium.
Things with value were traded with gold.
And so the value of gold is indisputable.

It is only in this century that people trade gold for printed paper.
In the past, this would have been preposterous!

One questions, "what's the difference then, if the printed papers are 'as good as gold'?"
The difference is that, the value of the paper, be it 'as good as gold', lies in the hand of the governing men.
Today, they claim its 'as good as gold', but when need be, governing men could manipulate it to what he wants the value to be.
And so, its bound to manipulation.
Bound to men-made theorems, which in turn, are bound to men's fallibilites.
And God knows how many!

The significance of using gold as money is that, merchandise exchanged in a trade don't loose its value.
The value of the sold item and the item bought, both retains its value, even while it changes form and hand.
For example;
If you were to buy a plate of rice for half a Dirham, you'd go home with a full stomach (which is value), and the seller goes home half-a-Dirham richer, with no means for manipulation since the value of the Dirham lies within the Dirham itself, it being a precious metal!
The seller finds that, his half-a-Dirham could still buy him a plate of rice even in 20 years time.

This is as opposed to promissory notes (which is what fiat or paper money is, in essence!)
Yesterday, 3 blue Malaysian notes promise its owner 2 plates of rice.
Today, you need a red Malaysian note for the same thing.
Cos its only a PROMISE!
Which is usually entailed by a generic question: "Who's promise?"

And so, that is part 1 of "Why Dinar?"

Let me end the entry by an authentic Hadith from The Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal:

Abu Bakr ibn Abi Maryam reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah s.a.w, say:

"A time is certainly coming over mankind in which there will be nothing [left] which will be of use save a dinar and a dirham."

May Allah give us the strength.

Ameen.