Cowrie shells

Frank, ReOrient, Chapter 2, The Global Trade Carousel 1400-1800:

"In West Africa, cowrie shells became a major medium of exchange. They were produced in the Maldive Islands, were in use as money in South Asia, and Europeans brought them to Africa to buy slaves for export. The import of cowrie shells increased massively - and later decreased - concomitantly with the slave trade. The demand for cowries was African, so that they were imported into Africa, where cowrie shell money co-existed with and even displaced gold dust and gold and silver coins and sometimes became regionally dominant. Like metal and money elsewhere, cowries served to expand economic activity and commercialization into the interior, especially among the poor people. However, cowries could not again be exported, since Europeans and others refused to accept them in payment. This one-way cowrie trade therefore helped to marginalise Africans from world trade as a whole."

In light of the above, I urge those Muslims who are involved in research into monetary reform not to advocate a currency system that will be used for intra-Muslim trade but rather to be more inclusive and help spread the blessings that will come with a shariah compliant form of money to all people in all places.