Monday 23 July 2018

Dirham





It comes with no surprise our friend Stephen Atkins keeps repeating himself with the same old busted argument, what was the price that Joseph was sold for"?  The problem isn’t on asking what price he was sold for, rather the problem is the hidden agenda behind the question.

The Quran tells us, Joseph (Pbuh) was sold by his brothers for a few pieces or silvers. Or according to translations for the lame like Stephen, a few pieces of silver coins. This is where is gets interesting, where Stephens actual motive on asking the question get’s revealed.

According to Stephen Atkins, “Dirham” (دِرْهَمٍ) was not used during the time of Joseph Pbuh thus, it’s historically inaccurate.

Well, our friend Stephen shouldn’t be surprised to know that on this occasion he is wrong and made an inaccurate statement. just for the record,  I am no scholar or historian on this matter, nor do I hold any such degree on this subject which gives me an upper hand for my argument. I’ll be using a simple basic, down to earth, lay man response. If you want an academic response to Stephen Atkins question, then I recommend you visit, Islamic Awareness website. You’ll get a highly Academic, bone breaking answer and more. I however, won’t have that sort of response. I’ll be as simple as possible.

Before I give my response, here’s what Stephen Atkins wrote:

The Storey of Joseph
- Shekels or Coins?
According to Genesis Joseph was sold for 20 shekels of silver.
Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. [Genesis 37:28]
Fact
- Joseph lived approximately 1700 BC
- Shekels were weighted measurement
Surah 12:20
- J. B. Irving a few coins
- Muhammed Farooq & Azam Malik dirhams (silver coins)
- Syed Ahamed a few dirhams
- Majid Fakhry dirhams
- The Noble Quran a few dirhams (silver coins)
- Pickthall a number of silver coins
The consensus by those translating the Quran is Joseph was sold for a few silver coins or dirhams
Fact
- The first coins were developed in Iron Age Anatolia around the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the
- Dirhams were not used as a coin until the 7th century


Stephen Atkins has the audacity to question the Quran, yet dismisses his own Bible? His argument is, the Quran uses the word Dirham (Silver Coins), whereas the Bible uses the word Shekels. He goes on to say and i quote :
 The first coins were developed in Iron Age Anatolia around the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the
- Dirhams were not used as a coin until the 7th century”

So, according to Stephens shabby information, “Dirham were not used until the 7th century”? let’s find out a little about Dirham before we close this case.

The word "dirham" comes from drachma (δραχμή), the Greek coin. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1st edition, s.v. 'dirhem')

The Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire controlled the Levant and traded with Arabia, circulating the coin there in pre-Islamic times and afterward. It was this currency which was initially adopted as an Arab word; then near the end of the 7th century the coin became an Islamic currency bearing the name of the sovereign and a religious verse. The dirham was struck in many Mediterranean countries, including Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) and the Byzantine Empire(miliaresion), and could be used as currency in Europe between the 10th and 12th centuries, notably in areas with Viking connections, such as Viking York 

(In addition to Islamic dirhams in ninth and tenth century English hoards, a counterfeit dirham was found at Coppergate, York, struck as if for Isma'il ibn Achmad (ruling at Samarkand, 903-07/8), of copper covered by a once-silvery wash of tin (illustrated in Richard Hall, Viking Age Archaeology, [series Shire Archaeology] 2010:17)

Notice from the above information, Dirham was adopted as an Arab word, due to the trading with Arabia by the Byzantine Empire. Note after the “7th century” it became an Islamic currency. This alone has destroyed Stephen Atkins argument, but we haven’t finished yet.

Coming back to the word Dirham, we read from Oxford English Dictionary, the word Dirham comes from the word “DRACHMA”. Whats interesting about the word drachma is, it’s found in the Bible. The very Bible Stephen Atkins used as his shield to discredit the Quran, will now back fire on him.

Not only is the word Dirham in Arabic found in the Arabic Bible, the word Drachma is used frequently in the Septuagint Bible, which apparently Paul was familiar with.

Since Dirham was introduced during the 7th century according to our friend Stephen Atkins, one wonders why the Arabic bible would use the word Dirham during the time of David, that’s 1050 B.C.?

Bible: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-AR)

وَقَدَّمُوا مِنْ أجلِ خِدْمَةِ بَيتِ اللهِ خَمْسَةَ آلافِ قِنْطارٍ وَعَشْرِةَ آلافِ دِرْهَماً مِنَ الذَّهَبِ، وَعَشْرِةَ آلافِ قِنْطارٍ مِنَ الفِضَّةِ، وَثَمانِيَةَ عَشَرَ قِنْطاراً مِنَ البرُونْزِ، وَمِئَةَ ألفِ قِنْطارٍ مِنَ الحَدِيد. (1 Chronicles 29:7)

And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. (1 Chronicles 29:7)

Maybe Stephen Atkins can tell why the Arabic Bible used Dirham during the time of David if Dirham was supposed to have been in circulation during the 7th century? We have another, this time from Ezra.

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV-AR)

69 فَكانَت تَبَرُّعاتُهُمْ لِهَذا البِناءِ قَدرَ طاقَتِهِمْ: واحِداً وَسِتِّينَ ألفَ دِرْهَمٍ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ، وَخَمسَةَ آلافِ رَطلٍ [a] مِنَ الفِضَّةِ، وَمِئَةَ ثَوبٍ للكَهَنَةِ. (Ezra 2:69)

They contributed to the treasury for this work in accordance with their ability: 61,000 golden drachma, 5,000 units of silver, and 100 priestly robes.  (Ezra 2:69)

Once again I ask Stephen atkins, if Dirham circulated during the 7th century, why then is the Arabic bible using it during the time of Ezra 445 B.C.? now I’ll post a few verses from the Septuagint Bible and showing the word “DRACHEM” (Dirham in Arabic دِرْهَماً) being used.


The Book of Leviticus, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be his valuation shall be fifty didrachms of silver by the standard of the sanctuary. 4 And the valuation of ...

2. Exodus
The Book of Exodus, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... bull gore a man-servant or maid-servant, he shall pay to their master thirty silver didrachms, and the bull shall be stoned. 33 And if any one open ...

3. Joshua
The Book of Joshua, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... done: 21 I saw in the spoil an embroidered mantle, and two hundred didrachms of silver, and one golden wedge of fifty didrachms, and I desired ...

The Book of Nehemiah, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... before me oppressed them, they even took of them their last money, forty didrachms for bread and wine; and the very outcasts of them exercised authority over ...

5. Genesis
The Book of Genesis, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... my lord, I have heard indeed, the land is worth four hundred silver didrachms, but what can this be between me and thee? nay, do ...

6. Numbers
The Book of Numbers, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... even take five shekels a head; thou shalt take them according to the holy didrachm, twenty oboli to the shekel. 48 And thou shalt give the money ...


The Book of Deuteronomy, from the English Translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible Online. Lancelot C. L. Brenton 1851
... man who lay with her shall give to the father of the damsel fifty silver didrachms, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; ...



Now for the grand finale!

8 او اية امرأة لها عشرة دراهم ان اضاعت درهما واحدا ألا توقد سراجا وتكنس البيت وتفتش باجتهاد حتى تجده(Luke 15:8)

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? (Luke 15:8)

From the lips of Jesus, Drachem (Dirham درهما) used in the Arabic Bible. Were the Arab Christians told by Muslims to insert Dirham in the Arabic Bible? Hope Stephen Atkins has a good response.

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Smith's says that according to Genesis 37:28 Joseph was sold for 20 shekels. This was "about a price of a slave around that time period. So not only does the Bible get the right denomination, it also gets the right currency." There are serious problems with Smith's claims. To start with, in the book of Genesis, Joseph was sold twice; firstly by his brothers "who sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt" (Genesis 37:28) and secondly, the Midianites who "sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard" (Genesis 37:36). The Qur'an, on the other hand, mentions only one sale of Joseph to al-ʿAziz in Egypt by travellers who picked him from a well (12:19-21). Comparing the biblical and the Qur'anic stories, it is amply clear that neither of the two books mention any price for the sale of Joseph in Egypt. But the Qur'an does describe this sale as the one involving a few pieces of silver which are countable. Undoubtedly, Smith has confused himself thoroughly with the stories.

 

Secondly, the claim that Joseph was sold for 20 shekels being "about a price of a slave around that time period" is not based on data from Egypt because this sale never took in Egypt! If he had bothered to check, he would have found that Professor K. A. Kitchen used the data from the ancient Near East to work out the price of a slave around the time when Joseph lived.[90]

 

From <https://www.islamic-awareness.org/quran/contrad/external/dirham.html>

 

Conclusions

In a lecture given to his fellow missionaries Joseph Smith had claimed that the use of the word dirham during the time of Joseph is an anachronism in the Qur'an. To support his claim, he said that the dirham was created only after the advent of Islam by ‘Umar, who subsequently introduced the dirham to replace the drachma. Furthermore, he added that Joseph was sold to the Egyptians for a few dirhams, counted out. According to him, only coins are counted and there were no coins in the time of Joseph, it was bullion. Regrettably, Smith's superficial knowledge of numismatics in general and the numismatic history of the ancient near east in particular, has caused him to make many gross errors fundamental in nature.

 

It was shown that pre-Islamic Arabs were aware of the dirham. The evidence comes from the pre-Islamic romance poetry of ‘Antara. The Arabs from pre-Islamic Arabia handled Persian currency and called it dirham which came from the Persian drahm. Both Muslim and non-Muslim philologists agree that this is a word of foreign origin borrowed into Arabic. It is clear that the use of the dirham in the Qur'an is not an anachronism, as the Arabs from pre-Islamic times were already aware of it.

 

Moreover, during the advent of Islam, any silver coin was called a dirham; it was also a unit of weight and coinage, and represented a monetary unit that might or might not be represented by a circulating coin. Given the multifarious nature of dirham, the use of this word in the story of Joseph represents silver "coinage"; the silver used as deben or sh‘t in ancient Egypt. A study of "coinage" in ancient Egypt clearly shows that precious metals, especially silver, were used as money in the form of deben and sh‘t. During trade, the numbers of deben or sh‘t were specified, clearly suggesting that they were counted and were of a standard metal quality as well as of a standard weight. The texts do not say that either deben or sh‘t were weighed or tested for quality during commercial transactions. Although very common from Ramesside times onward, the evidence of such transactions extend all the way down to the mid-5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom Period, where, in one particular market scene, a particular length of cloth is valued at 6 sh‘t.

 

In assessing the evidence of coinage in ancient Egypt, Černý came to the conclusion that sh‘ty "was a flat, round piece of metal 1/12 deben, that is about 7.6 grams, in weight, possibly with an inscription to indicate this weight or the name of the issuing authority", adding "If so, the 'piece' was practically a coin."[103] Although Černý's assessment was startling,[104] he was not too far off the mark.

 

In conclusion, the Qur'anic description of the transaction darāhima maʿdūdatin (i.e., a few pieces of silver, countable) is accurate from the point of view of ancient Egypt.

And Allah knows best!

 



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