The Meaning of Dinar and Qintaar

The dinar is a form of currency that was prevalent in the time of the Prophet
Muhammad and continues to this day in the Arab world, even though its value
has changed and varies depending on the country. In the following post I
would like to share some thoughts about the meaning of this word, since it
appears in the Qur'an.



1. Notice that I said I would like to discuss its "meaning". This
is very different than discussing its "value". Its value changes
based on time and place, but it has to have a stable meaning that can be
applied in any time and place. Why is this the case?



2. To discuss that, we need to discuss a very important principle of
Qur'anic interpretation. This principle is the idea that every word in the
Qur'an has a meaning that is "mutlaq", or "absolute". Absolute
means it is not qualified by time or space. So even if a word is referring to
a historical incident, the meaning that this word contains applies to
everyone who comes later. It is not "muqayyad", or
"restricted". This is because the Qur'an states: "Say: Oh
people, I am the messenger of Allah to you all..." 7:158 He was not a
messenger sent only to Arabs, he was sent to everyone regardless of language
or culture. This principle is also based on the following ayah: "Say: If
the ocean was ink to write the words of my Lord, the ocean would vanish
before the words of my Lord would be exhausted..." 18:109 Therefore,
every word in the Qur'an has meanings that will continually unfold over time
and cannot be exhausted. Rather, as Allah says: "You will know its news
after a time." 38:88



3. Because of this, we need to look for a more universal interpretation of
the following ayah: "There are some of the People of the Book who, if
you entrust him with a qintaar, he will return it to you. There are others of
the People of the Book who, if you entrust him with a dinar, he won't return
it to you unless you stand over him demanding..." 3:75



4. There are two words used here that seem to relate to currency: qintaar and
dinar. What are their meanings? First, let's take the general meaning of the
ayah. Qintaar seems to be a large sum while dinar seems to be a small sum.
Here the Qur'an is encouraging us not to put people all in one group just
because they follow the same religion (which of course would apply to judging
people because they adhered to any ideology or belonging to any ethnic
background). People are all different. This same sentiment is expressed in
another ayah: "They are not all the same, of the People of the Book are
an upright community that recites the aayaat of Allah during the hours of the
night while they prostrate." 3:113 The "People of the Book" is
a term that is often understood to mean the Jewish and Christian people. So
in these two aayaat, Allah is reminding us not to think of them all the same.
This same thought applies to those of us who follow the Qur'an. Allah reminds us: 

"It is not according to your desires, nor the desires of the People of the Book, whoever does evil will be recompensed for it..." 

4:123 

He views us equally. We are judged by what we do, not the name we give
ourselves.



5. Having discussed the general meaning of the ayah, we can now proceed to a
more specific discussion of these two terms. It is hard to find a good
definition of the word "dinar", so we will look at the potential
meaning of "qintaar". 

Then, since dinar is contrasted with qintaar in this ayah, we will use that contrast to derive a definition. According to Ar-Raghib Al-Asfahani in his book Mufradaat Alfaadh Al-Qur'an, qintaar is related to the Arabic word "qantarah", which means: "Arched bridge, stone bridge; vault, arch..." (The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic) He says: "A qantarah of wealth is an amount that life passes through, similar to a qantarah. This is an unspecified amount in itself..." He further goes on to say that this is why different amounts have been given to it by different people.

6. That is so beautiful! We just have to stop and reflect for a minute. A qintaar is an amount of wealth that becomes like a qantarah, an arched bridge that one passes under. Perhaps from this understanding, I would define a qintaar as: 

"An amount of wealth that allows a person to pass from one state of life to another." 

Obviously, that is subjective and depends on what a person is trying to do. So if a person wants to buy a car, a qintaar is the amount of wealth that allows that person to pass from the state of not having a car to being a car owner.



7. The word dinar is contrasted with the word qintaar in the ayah. So if we define qintaar as an amount of wealth that allows a person to go from one state to another, perhaps a dinar is a unit of such wealth. So to stick with our example of buying a car, a dinar would be a car payment.



8. This interpretation may be surprising to some, but it is based on the words of the ayah itself, and not values that change from time to time. In addition, it is logical and fits with the overall beauty of the Qur'an. In choosing any interpretation of the Qur'an there is another important principle based on the following ayah: "Those who listen to the word and follow the most beautiful of it..." 39:18 We should always look for the most beautiful way to interpret it. Allah knows best.