Muslim nations consider gold dinar to beat sanctions

At the end of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 in the Malaysian capital on Saturday, Mahathir praised Iran and Qatar for being independent and capable of standing on their own feet despite economic sanctions and embargoes.

He also said such sanctions and embargoes are not affecting only Iran and Qatar and therefore, it is important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant in order to face future threats.

“With the world witnessing nations making unilateral decisions to impose such punitive measures, Malaysia and other nations must always bear in mind that it can be imposed on any of us,” Mahathir said.

The Malaysian premier said he had suggested “that we re-visit the idea of trading using the gold dinar and barter trade among us.”

“We are seriously looking into this and we hope that we will be able to find a mechanism to put it into effect.”

The prime minster said he had also proposed an alternative to the US dollar for trade a long time ago, but added that the efforts to that end have been hampered by world powers.

Earlier, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani proposed the use of cryptocurrency among Muslim nations as an alternative to the US dollar.

Pakistan to skip summit in Kuala Lumpur under intense Saudi pressurePakistan will not participate in a summit in Malaysian capital to address challenges to the Muslim world.

Some 450 delegates comprising leaders, intellectuals, politicians and non-governmental organizations from 56 countries attended the four-day summit in Kuala Lumpur. 

The summit discussed major issues affecting Muslims, including the displacement of Muslims worldwide, food security, national/cultural identity, and Islamophobia, technology, trade, internet governance, and security.

Mahathir said the summit was mainly focused on its objectives of finding solutions and programs to assist Muslims.

“That is what we hope to do. We want to save ourselves and the Muslim ummahand we will persevere in this effort. We hope from this point onwards, our other Muslim brethren will see for themselves that what we intend to do is to unite the ummahon strategic and advanced technologies,” he said.