Unleashing the Beast

W HO C ONTROLS THE G OLD AND THE O IL ? / 225

currency of a new Islamic empire. These coins are already being produced in 22 Islamic nations, and they are free from government fiat and financial interest. The Islamic party of Klantan, a party of 500,000 people in Northeast Malaysia, began heading up the project a few years ago. The currency is based on Mohammad's saying that was remembered by Abu Bakr, the man who compiled Mohammed's teachings into the Koran after the prophet's death: "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" (The Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal). In the late 1990s, the concept of the gold and silver Islamic coins was discussed with the mufti (Islamic spiritual leader) in Egypt. He approved of the concept and said: All Islamic transactions should be done in gold and silver. This will lead to a powerful establishment of an Islamic economy capable of facing up to the international economic blocs. Other Islamic leaders have hailed the idea of a unified Islamic currency based upon gold and silver: The Islamic Dinar is a newly created 1oo percent gold currency that its backers hope and believe will become the currency of more than one billion Muslims. The organizers of this currency not only see the Islamic Dinar as an eventual rival to the U.S. Dollar as a reserve

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