Launching the Malcolm X 10 Dirham Silver Coin

Dinar Wakala is pleased to announce the launch of "Malcolm X 10 Silver Dirham", a coin honoring the life and achievements of El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz Malcolm X

Manning Marable describes Malcolm as that generation's "...greatest prophet, who spoke the uncomfortable truths that no one else had the courage or integrity to broach. Especially for young Black males, he personified ... everything we wanted to become: the embodiment of Black masculinist authority and power, uncompromising bravery in the face of racial oppression, the ebony standard for what the African-American liberation movement should be about. With Talmudic-like authority, we quoted him in our debates, citing chapter and verse, the precise passages from the Autobiography, and books like Malcolm X Speaks, By Any Means Necessary, and other edited volumes. These collected works represented almost sacred texts of Black identity to us."

And the words of Ossie Davis in his eulogy for Malcolm have forever importalized the "shining prince" parable for this great American hero: "Malcolm was our manhood ... And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. And we will know him then for what he was and is — a Prince — our own Black shining Prince! — who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so."

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, released into print in November 1965, sold millions of copies within several years. And by the late sixties, it had been adopted in hundreds of college courses across the country. Malcolm X’s life story, as outlined by the Autobiography, became African America's quintessential story about the ordeal of being Black in America.

But the relevance of Malcolm transcends far beyond the context of African American history alone, though that will always be the primary constituency to which he belongs. But as Imam Zaid Shakir points out, Malcolm belonged to three worlds: the Muslim, the American and the African. As African American's are rediscovering Malcolm in a social context that makes his words and thoughts as relevant as they were fifty years ago, it is also time for the Muslim world, and humanity at large, to rediscover this great leader, who has the unique ability to speak to us from a vantage point which very few Muslims have been able to achieve.

It is in this spirit that the Dinar Movement has decided to adopt Malcolm as a permanent symbolic icon on face of the 10 Dirham Silver Coin. Not as a one off commemorative issue, but permanetly, as the coins change hands, or travel around the world, to remind its holder of the character, courage and charisma of this beloved Muslim leader, who "rose from the wretched of the earth into the political stratosphere of international power", inspiring us all to always side with the truth, and defend it, "by any means necessary".

The Malcolm X 10 Dirham Silver Coin is available from our website, www.dinarwakala.com. The Silver Dirham is a historical currency and weight measure, equal to almost 1/10 of an ounce of Silver. In the Islamic context, the Dirham also holds the distinction of being the currency prevalent in the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sm), peace and blessings be upon him.

Malcolm X 10 American Silver Dirham