💡 Did You Know?
A dinar and a gold bar of equal weight and purity contain identical gold and sell for a price derived the same way. What you pay extra for is the coin format, nothing else.
📊 DATA & STATS
One dinar is 4.25 grams. Sizes run from a quarter dinar at 1.0625g to ten dinar at 42.5g. Nisab for zakat sits at roughly 85 grams, or about 20 dinar, with zakat due at 2.5 percent.
This pulls together everything scattered across our other dinar articles into one place. If you are deciding whether a dinar belongs in your holding, and what to check before buying one, start here and follow the links where you need more depth.
The Basics
A gold dinar is a gold coin with a fixed weight of 4.25 grams, a standard inherited from early Islamic trade and still used by modern mints. Purity is not fixed by that standard — classical coins were 22 carat (916), many modern ones including the AurumLX dinar are 999.
It is not legal tender in Malaysia. Treat it as a physical gold holding priced off the international gold market. For the fuller explanation see what a gold dinar is and why it weighs 4.25 grams.
Choosing a Size
Sizes are straight multiples of the base weight: quarter (1.0625g), half (2.125g), one (4.25g), five (21.25g) and ten dinar (42.5g).
Smaller coins cost more per gram. That is the price of divisibility, and it is worth paying only if you expect to sell in pieces. If you plan to hold and sell in one go, larger units are more efficient — see dinar versus bar for the trade-off in full.
Working Out the Price
Take the gold price per troy ounce in USD, convert to ringgit, divide by 31.1035 for a per-gram figure, multiply by 4.25, adjust for fineness if the coin is not 999, then add the mint premium.
Because two inputs are the dollar gold price and the exchange rate, your dinar can move in ringgit on a day when global gold is flat. The full calculation is here.
Buying Without Trouble
Four checks cover most of the risk: stated weight, stated fineness, a certificate that matches the coin, and a published buyback price. Compare the spread between buy and sell rather than the headline price alone.
Settle immediately — payment and delivery together. This protects you commercially and satisfies the shariah requirement on gold transactions. Buying checklist here.
Storage and Records
Leave sealed packaging sealed, handle by the edge if you must handle it at all, and never clean a coin. Keep invoice, certificate and serial numbers separate from the gold, with a copy off-site.
Home safe, bank box or insured vault all work. Storage guide here.
Zakat
Nisab is roughly 85 grams of gold, about 20 dinar. Meet that threshold, hold it for a full lunar year, and zakat is due at 2.5 percent. Authorities differ on jewellery in regular use, so check with your state body. Calculation here.
A Sensible Starting Point
Buy a fixed ringgit amount on a fixed schedule rather than waiting for a good entry price. You accumulate more grams when prices are low and fewer when they are high, and the timing question stops mattering.
Hold the bulk in larger units for cost efficiency and keep a few smaller coins for flexibility. That combination gives a low blended premium without locking you into one large, indivisible piece.
