Zakat: Returning to the Bimetallic Standard
25th April 2012
In a shrewd move — given the imminent inflation of at least three of the world’s major currencies, including the dollar — an Indonesian sultan has decided to mint Islamic gold and silver coins to be used in the payment of zakat. Not only does his initiative fulfill the requirements of Islamic law, but it will also sidestep the collapse of the world’s reserve currency.
April 26th, 2012 at 13:49
The Chinese had such a system, once; tea from China could only be purchased with silver, and the only real way for British merchants to get silver coinage was to sell opium in China for silver, which was then used to buy tea for English markets, a part of which profits went to purchasing more opium to sell in China. And so it went, ’round and ’round.
Until it broke down when the Chinese Court attempted to outlaw the importation of opium, which meant that tea clippers couldn’t get the silver they needed, which meant that folks back in England had to drink beer for breakfast (not a problem for many then-English-subject people like the Irish, but that’s outside the scope of this story).
The Opium Wars were the result, with China getting their asses handed to them.
Let us hope that history, in this case, repeats itself.