What Exactly Is the Islamic State’s New Currency for the Caliphate?
By Rakesh Raman
The Islamic State (or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS) has decided to produce its own currency in the form of gold, silver, and copper coins to be called Islamic Dinars.
While the new currency may not be initially acceptable in other parts of the world, ISIS plans to use it in its own regime – in Iraq and Syria – and which is poised to expand in more territories with the aim to establish a large Islamic State called the Caliphate.
Islamic State, which is believed to be the world’s wealthiest terrorist group with nearly $2 billion in its coffers, will initially issue 7 coins – 2 gold coins, 3 silver, and 2 copper.
The gold coins will come with a denomination of approximately $139 and $694, the silver coins will have a value equivalent to $1, $4.5, and $9, and the copper coins are expected to be worth a few cents.
Although the date of the actual announcement about the new ISIS currency is not available, the information went viral on the Web during the past week or so through various social media accounts and individual websites.
It’s believed that ISIS has amassed most of its wealth from the sale of oil, as it controls a slew of oil refineries in the Islamic territories that it has conquered.
Plus, it is earning through extortions, ransom money that it receives against the release of hostages, and sale of expensive artifacts that it has plundered during its ongoing rampage.
Reports suggest that currently ISIS is adding roughly $2 million a day in its wealth and turns a large part of its earnings into metal – mainly gold but also silver and copper – which will be used to mint the new coins.
The militant group, headed by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is believed to be spending most part of its money on humanitarian activities and for delivering citizen services for people who live in the Islamic State.
[ Read: How Islamic State Takes Care of Its Muslim Citizens ]
Unlike other terrorist outfits that operate clandestinely, Islamic State is on course to becoming an independent nation governed by a group of its select leaders who manage different affairs of its governance.
According to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium (TRAC), ISIS has established a full governance structure. The Islamic State is now evolving into a government with military capabilities, says TRAC.
[ Read: How ISIS Militants Deliver Governance to the People ]
Although ISIS has not yet revealed how it’s going to manage its financial affairs and the new currency that it will produce, the details are expected in the next issue of its Dabiq magazine, which is published by the Al Hayat Media Center of the Islamic State.
The magazine is named after the Dabiq town in northern Syria. The town is famous for the battle of Marj Dabiq between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate in 1516.
By Rakesh Raman, the managing editor of RMN Company
You also can read: More Articles by the RMN Editor, Rakesh Raman
Photos courtesy: Dabiq / Web
