H

aving a couple of silver dirham coins in his wallet is a must for 34-year-old businessman Farhaz Daud.

Although not many people are familiar with the coins ' used as a medium of exchange in Prophet Muhammad's era ' the businessman said he always asked vendors whether they wanted to be paid in dirham.

'Aside from offering to pay with dirhams I also explain the benefits of using them and how to use them,' he said, adding that he would also assure vendors they could change them into rupiah anytime.

Farhaz, who owns a guest house in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, and distributes Balinese peanut snacks, has been using gold dinar and silver dirham coins in his business and daily transactions since he learned about the practice in 2009.

Farhaz believes the practice to be a sunna (words and deeds of the prophet) that must be implemented, saying that using the coins was considered much fairer than using bank notes.

'The intrinsic value of the dinar and dirham is the same as its face value and it will not change. The value is stable. If one dinar could buy a goat during Prophet Muhammad's time, it still can now,' he said.

A dinar coin, 4.44 grams (g) of 24 or 22 carat gold is worth up to Rp 2 million (US$198) while the value of a dirham coin, made of 3.1 g silver, is worth between Rp 35,000 and Rp 70,000.

Online shop owner and aspiring businessman Marsono is one of hundreds of Muslim entrepreneurs, who own small-medium size businesses in Greater Jakarta, joining communities of dinar and dirham users to widen their networks and make more transactions.

Marsono said to expose the public to the dinar and dirham, the community often held a market-day festival to explain how to use the coins.

'Before the festival, we usually distribute alms in the form of dirham to the poor who live around the location. They can use the coins at the festival the next day,' he said.

Jawara founder Abdarrahman R. Rachadi said the community, founded in 2009 with only 30 members, had around 1,200 members in three countries ' Indonesia, Malaysia and
Singapore ' with most of them in Java.

Abdarrahman said at least 10,000 dirham coins and 2,500 dinar coins were being circulated by the members.

Farhaz's wife Fitria Ulfah, who used to run one of the coin's distribution branches, said in 2012 demand for the coins declined because either the need for bank notes increased or fluctuations in exchange rates.

Bank Indonesia announced in 2012 that any other form of exchange apart from the rupiah was prohibited in business transactions.

Fitria said no action had been taken following the announcement, as the dinar and dirham were bartering tools rather than a currency.

'It is the same when we swap a cell phone for a couple of grams of gold. As long as the other party is willing to exchange, there is no problem,' she said.