Book Review: The Islamic Gold Dinar, by: Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera, Reviewed By: Mohammed Obaidulla مراجعة علمية لكتاب: الدينار الذهبي الإسلامي - تأليف: أحمد كميل ميدين ميرا - مراجعة: محمد عبيدالله

The publication of this work by Dr Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera comes at a time when the issue of gold-based currencies has found many ardent proponents. Proponents come from varied backgrounds – from among Islamic scholars who see a parallel between the proposed gold-based system and the early Islamic systems(1); from political leaders of the Muslim world, such as Dr Mahathir Mohamed and others who may be motivated by a prospect of demise of the US Dollar(2); and finally, from the ranks of senior bankers and economists, such as, Alan Greenspan who have their own reasons and ways of justifying policy prescriptions(3). Dr Kameel’s work supports, conforms and contributes to the Islamic Dinar policy of the government of Malaysia. The release of the book was timed with organization of two major international conferences in Kuala Lumpur that discussed a proposal for creation of a Gold Dinar, intended as a replacement for the US Dollar as the currency of trade among nations. With the demonstrated hostility of US towards many Islamic countries, it is now increasingly probable that the Gold Dinar policy will be implemented in the near term, among certain Islamic countries at first, and potentially expanding to include non-Islamic countries. The first conference, Stable and Just Global Monetary Systems, held in Kuala Lumpur in August, 2002 announced that the Gold Dinar would be implemented as a bilateral arrangement between Malaysia and certain unspecified partners by the middle of 2003, and extended to multilateral agreements over time. The second conference The Gold Dinar in Multilateral Trade held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2002 witnessed some concrete steps involving representatives of members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), specifically Iran. Not surprisingly, the book by Dr Kameel devotes a chapter to discussion of the model proposed by Dr Mahathir Mohamed, the Prime Minister of Malaysia and finds it most ideal.