Author: Briana Ryan

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sharia-goldbugs-isis-created-currency-205315776.html

As we learned in class, Abd al-Malik used coinage reform as a way to unite their territories. Centuries later, ISIS would create their own version of the dinar in an attempt to destabilize the US dollar. In 2015, ISIS was becoming wealthy off of oil sales to customers like the Iraqi government. However, all trade was being done in the US dollar. ISIS wanted to disassociate the US dollar with the oil business. ISIS decided to bring back the dinar, saying “The return of the ultimate measure of wealth for the world: gold – as the [caliphate] surges into the financial sphere.” Although the project was originally successful, after the US bombed many of ISIS-controlled oil fields, the value of the dinar plummeted.

Recently in class, questions arose about the fate of Fatima after the assassination of the fourth caliph, Ali. Although we listed Fatima as a supporter of Ali during the First Fitna, this is not the case. Fatima died in 633 CE, not long after the death of Muhammad.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40326855?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3Acc063c8cd397d3e46cf22a15f9480e13&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/07/150722-koran-quran-oldest-manuscript-birmingham/

In 2015, a graduate student at The University of Birmingham found two pages misplaced in a newer manuscript of The Qur’an. Noticing the text was visibly different, the student notified the university. Radiocarbon Dating places the creation of the pages between 568 CE and 645 CE. If accurate, this means the document could have been written during the life of Muhammad (570 CE- 632 CE).

The World Bank, an institution of 189 member countries, is investigating the possibility of China abusing a loan it was granted in 2015. The $50 million loan was meant to help fund the education of thousands of young Chinese people at local colleges. However, China is being accused of using the money to help pay for the current interment of many of its Uyghur Muslim population. If this is accurate, the global implications could be serious. Not only could member nations be forced to address the humanitarian crisis, they could be accused of helping fund the crisis itself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/us/politics/world-bank-to-investigate-if-china-loan-funded-muslim-detention-camps.html