When fiat currencies were first created the object of value that everyone agreed on, by force, was the promise of the US government. Surely if the heroes of World War Two made a promise they would honour it, is what the nations of the world truly believed at the time.

And so the bank note was introduced for the first time in nations outside of Europe which already had similar concepts in place before World War 2 going as far back as Victorian England. A piece of paper was now valuable as it contained a promise by a government to pay the amount written on the paper to its holder, even if the government did not have that amount at hand. This was great for governments as they could now print more money through their central banks whenever they had to deliver on their promises, even if that meant that inflation would rob the wealth of the entire nation. An unlimited source of funding was now possible to fuel economies, and the fuel to be burnt were the masses.

Fast forward to 2025 and one US Dollar is now worth 280 Pakistani Rupees, 122 Bangladeshi Taka, 50 Egyptian Pounds, 40 Turkish Lira and 4.25 Malaysian Ringgit. One US Dollar is also worth 0.3 Kuwaiti Dinar, 0.27 UAE Dirham and 0.27 Qatari Riyal. The majority of the currencies of the Muslim world are devalued with the exception of some oil rich Muslim countries.

In the context of the global economy, and within the countries in which currencies have been devalued, the government's promise no longer seems to hold any weight. A friend recently told me that in East Africa people have switched to mobile banking as they would need to carry barrel loads of paper money to go out to eat at a restaurant. At least now they could be humiliated digitally instead of in the real world.

So what is the way forward for the countries which are struggling and humanity at large? Is it ethical to have "hard" currencies for Europeans and "soft" currencies for Africans? Does fiat money still hold any value now that world governments have been exposed for their hypocrisy, mistrust and silence in the face of a Palestinian genocide, albeit a select few?

Regrettably the answer is yes, fiat currencies will still continue to hold value even if the entire world knows that they are based on lies and Riba. So long as the people of the world accept it and agree to it being valuable.

To break ourselves from the slavery and oppression in which we find ourselves in, Muslims in particular, need to be the first to reject the value of fiat currencies and then move on to agree on an object of value based on the Qur'an and Sunnah.

Major objects of value identified in the story of Zhul Qarnain

If we turn to Surah al-Kahf of the Qur'an and navigate to the story of Zhul Qarnain we will find here an answer to the question: What is the greatest object of value for Islamic Civilization?

Within this story Zhul Qarnain travels the world and eventually comes to a people that are being oppressed by the two tribes of Ya'juj and Ma'juj. Zhul Qarnain wanted to help take them out of the oppression they were in but they did not speak the same language. Eventually this hurdle was overcome and at first the people offered him two things. An idea and money.

The idea was to build a barrier between them and the evil tribes. This was accepted by Zhul Qarnain. However the money, which was likely gold, silver, jewels and other worldly goods, was not accepted. Instead Zhul Qarnain wanted manpower and strength. Here we can clearly understand that human strength has a greater value than beautiful jewels.

The story continues and Zhul Qarnain orders the people to bring him iron and copper blocks required to build the barrier. Here we learn the third object of value, raw materials.

Zhul Qarnain then constructs devices to melt the copper which is then poured on top of the iron blocks. Here we learn two more objects of value. Fuel and technology. The fuel was used to melt the copper blocks and the technology was used to construct the barrier.

So far in this story we have learned about five objects of value. Jewels, manpower, raw materials, technology and fuel. Today these objects are still considered to be valuable with some objects being valued higher than others. However there is a sixth object that can be identified from this story. And that object is knowledge.

Without the knowledge of how to communicate in different languages, how to rally people into action, how to extract the correct raw materials, how to build and use the technology required to construct the barrier, and how to utilise fuel to power the technology, Zhul Qarnain would not be able to complete the task at hand. And therefore the most valuable object for Islamic Civilization is knowledge.

Evidence to support theory of Knowledge being the greatest object of value for Islamic Civilization

To further support and explain this theory two verses from the story of Zhul Qarnain in Surah Kahf and a further one verse from the same Surah within the story of Khidr (as) and Musa (as) can be cited:

1. Verse 68:

وَكَيۡفَ تَصۡبِرُ عَلَىٰ مَا لَمۡ تُحِطۡ بِهِۦ خُبۡرًا

“And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?"

The above verse refers to when Musa (as) sought to follow and learn from Khidr (as). When Musa asks Khidr permission to follow him one of his responses was that Musa does not possess “Khubra”. This Arabic word is usually translated as Knowledge. So Khidr had some knowledge that Musa did not have.

2. Verse 91:

كَذَٰلِكَ وَقَدۡ أَحَطۡنَا بِمَا لَدَيۡهِ خُبۡرًا

“Thus. And We had encompassed [all] that he had in knowledge.”

In this verse Allah (swt) indicates that Zhul Qarnain, like Khidr, also possessed “Khubra” or knowledge.

3. Verse 95:

قَالَ مَا مَكَّنِّى فِيهِ رَبِّى خَيۡرٌ فَأَعِينُونِى بِقُوَّةٍ أَجۡعَلۡ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَبَيۡنَهُمۡ رَدۡمًا

He said, "That in which my Lord has established me is better [than what you offer], but assist me with strength; I will make between you and them a dam.

In this verse Zhul Zarnain indicates that Allah (swt) has “established him” in something. But what that something is, is not mentioned. In the books of Tafsir you may find this something to be power and authority. However, due to the close proximity of verse 91 and what is mentioned in there of Zhul Qarnain possessing knowledge, it could be argued that what Allah has established Zhul Qarnain in is this knowledge. Therefore Zhul Qarnain in verse 95 could be mentioning that the knowledge that he has been established in is better than the “Kharaj” (likely jewels, gold and silver) being offered to him by the people he went to help.

Therefore, according to this timeless story, knowledge is more valuable than jewels, gold and silver. And as explained in this article, without knowledge then other objects of value become useless.

This theory is further supported by the following statement of ‘Ali (ra) who said:

"Knowledge is better than riches, for knowledge guards you while you guard riches. Knowledge governs while riches are governed. Riches diminish with spending but knowledge increases with it."

Summary and Next Steps

The UmmahNet Ecosystem, a project of RAISSE Foundation, proposes knowledge to be the greatest object of value for Islamic Civilization and has created the tools and systems required to convert this value into money to be used in the real world today. We believe that once the promise of a government is replaced with knowledge to create money, Islamic Civilization will be revived.

So let all civilizations of the world identify their own object of value or agree with what has been revealed in the final revelation from Allah to all of mankind.

Further information about the ecosystem can be found on this video