Mithqal

Short description: Unit of mass equal to 4.25 grams (0.137 ozt)

Gold dinar of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, minted at Damascus, Syria in AH 75 (697/698 CE), having a weight of almost 1 mithqāl (5 grams)

Mithqāl (Arabic: مثقال, romanized: miṯqāl) is a unit of mass equal to 4.25 grams (0.137 ozt) which is mostly used for measuring precious metals, such as gold, and other commodities, like saffron.

The name was also applied as an alternative term for the gold dinar, a coin that was used throughout much of the Islamic world from the 8th century onward and survived in parts of Africa until the 19th century.[1] The name of Mozambique's currency since 1980, the metical, is derived from mithqāl.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 Indian mithqaal
* 3 Nikki mithqal
* 4 Conversion factors
* 5 See also
* 6 References

## Etymology

The word mithqāl (Arabic: مثقال; “weight, unit of weight”) comes from the Arabic thaqala (ثقل), meaning “to weigh” (cf. Hebrew: שקל, romanized: shekel). Other variants of the unit in English include miskal (from Persian or Urdu مثقال; misqāl), mithkal, mitkal and mitqal.

## Indian mithqaal

In India, the measurement is known as mithqaal. It contains 4 mashas and 3½ raties (rata'ii; مثقال).[3]

It is equivalent to 4.25 grams when measuring gold,[4] or 4.5 grams when measuring commodities.[5] It may be more or less than this.[6]

## Nikki mithqal

A gold coin minted in Nikki, Benin and known as the mithqal was in wide circulation in West Africa in the 18th century, particularly the Niger bend. It was useable in the trans-Saharan trade and coexisted with the use of cowries as shell money.[7]

## Conversion factors

Unit  | Mithqāl  | Gold dinar  | Dirham | Gram | Troy ounce  | Ounce | Grain

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Mithqāl  | 1  | 1  | 0.70  | 4.25  | 0.13664  | 0.14991  | 65.5875

The mithqāl in another more modern calculation is as follows:

Unit  | Mithqāl  | Nākhud  | Gram | Troy ounce

|
|
|
|

Mithqāl  | 1  | 19  | 3.642  | 0.117

Nakhud is a Baháʼí unit of mass used by Bahá'u'lláh.[8] The mithqāl had originally consisted of 24 nakhuds, but in the Bayán, the collective works of the Báb, this was reduced to 19.[9]

## See also

* Nisab

## References

1. ↑ Johnson, Marion (1968), "The Nineteenth-Century Gold 'Mithqal' in West and North Africa", The Journal of African History (Cambridge University Press) 9 (4): 547–569, doi:10.1017/s0021853700009038, ISSN 0021-8537
2. ↑ "Metical" in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa com Acordo Ortográfico. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003-2015. Accessed 1 April 2015. Script error: The function "in_lang" does not exist.
3. ↑ (in en) Quarterly Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. Pakistan Historical Society.. 2006-01-01. pp. 86. https://books.google.com/books?id=NfovAQAAIAAJ&q=mithqal+mashas. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
4. ↑ "Assessing the Nisaab of bank notes". IslamWeb. 2007. http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=138246.
5. ↑ "M". Economic Glossary. http://www.islamic-world.net/economics/word/m.htm.
6. ↑ "Glossary". The Clear Path. 2005. http://www.theclearpath.com/glossary.php?cat=0&start=275&sid=bdcf2885f511acea83f48c3fbad9947c.
7. ↑ Green, Toby (2020). A Fistful of Shells. UK: Penguin Books. p. 325.
8. ↑ Smith, Peter (2000). "Nakhud". A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith (illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 250. ISBN 1-85168-184-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=t7oQAQAAIAAJ&q=nakhuds. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
9. ↑ Honeyman, Nobel Augusto Perdu (2004-05-05) (in es). La relevancia de la pragmática en la traducción de textos multi-culturales: versión del Kitab-i-Aqdas. Universidad Almería. pp. 508. ISBN 9788482406473. https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5ryCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA508.

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Islamic banking and finance

Concepts|

* Aqad
* Bai' al 'Inah
* Bai' Bithaman Ajil
* Bai' Muajjal
* Bai Salam
* Gharar
* Hibah
* Ijarah
* Istisna
* Muamalat
* Mudaraba
* Mudarib
* Murabaha
* Musawamah
* Musharaka
* Participation
* Qard al-Hasan
* Qirad
* Riba
* Securities trading
* Sharia investments
* Sukuk
* Takaful
* Tawarruq
* Wadiah
* Wakalah
* Waqf

Currency|

* Dinar
* Dirham
* Fals
* Gold dinar
* Mithqal
* Modern gold dinar

Scholars|

* Abdul Azim Islahi
* Mohammad Najatuallah Siddiqui
* Rusni Hassan
* Umer Chapra
* Waleed El-Ansary

Works|

* Iqtisaduna
* The Economic System In Islam

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