mithqal
{{Short description|Unit of mass equal to 4.25 grams (0.137 ozt)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
File:Dinar of Abd al-Malik, AH 75.jpg Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, minted at Damascus, Syria in AH 75 (697/698 CE), having a weight of almost 1 mithqāl (5 grams)]]
Mithqāl ({{langx|ar|{{big|مثقال}}}}) is a unit of mass equal to {{convert|4.25|g|ozt|lk=out}} which is mostly used for measuring precious metals, such as gold, and other commodities, like saffron.
The name was also applied as an alternative term for the gold dinar, a coin that was used throughout much of the Islamic world from the 8th century onward and survived in parts of Africa until the 19th century.{{Citation|last=Johnson|first=Marion|year=1968|title=The Nineteenth-Century Gold 'Mithqal' in West and North Africa|publisher=Cambridge University Press|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=9|number=4|pages=547–569|issn=0021-8537|jstor=180144|doi=10.1017/s0021853700009038|s2cid=161545754 }} The name of Mozambique's currency since 1980, the metical, is derived from mithqāl.[http://www.infopedia.pt/dicionarios/lingua-portuguesa/metical "Metical"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115090040/https://www.infopedia.pt/dicionarios/lingua-portuguesa/metical |date=15 November 2017 }} in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa com Acordo Ortográfico. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003-2015. Accessed 1 April 2015. {{in lang|pt}}
Etymology
Indian mithqaal
In India, the measurement is known as mithqaal. It contains 4 {{Transliteration|hi|mashas}} and 3½ {{Transliteration|hi|raties}} (rata'ii; مثقال).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfovAQAAIAAJ&q=mithqal+mashas|title=Quarterly Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Pakistan Historical Society.|pages=86|language=en|access-date=5 September 2017|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701083649/https://books.google.com/books?id=NfovAQAAIAAJ&q=mithqal+mashas|url-status=live}}
It is equivalent to 4.25 grams when measuring gold,{{cite web|url=http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=138246|title=Assessing the Nisaab of bank notes|year=2007|work=IslamWeb|access-date=2007-03-09|archive-date=26 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926232840/http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=138246|url-status=live}} or 4.5 grams when measuring commodities.{{cite web|url=http://www.islamic-world.net/economics/word/m.htm|title=M|work=Economic Glossary|access-date=2007-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928134913/http://www.islamic-world.net/economics/word/m.htm|archive-date=2007-09-28|url-status=dead}} It may be more or less than this.{{cite web|url=http://www.theclearpath.com/glossary.php?cat=0&start=275&sid=bdcf2885f511acea83f48c3fbad9947c|title=Glossary|year=2005|work=The Clear Path|access-date=2007-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928025356/http://www.theclearpath.com/glossary.php?cat=0&start=275&sid=bdcf2885f511acea83f48c3fbad9947c|archive-date=2007-09-28}}
Nikki mithqal
A gold coin minted in Nikki, Benin and known as the mithqal was in wide circulation in West Africa in the 18th century, particularly the Niger bend. It was useable in the trans-Saharan trade and coexisted with the use of cowries as shell money.{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Toby |title=A Fistful of Shells |date=2020 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=UK |page=325}}
Conversion factors
| class="wikitable" |
| Unit
! Mithqāl ! Dirham ! Gram ! Ounce ! Grain |
|---|
| Mithqāl
| 1 | 1 | 0.70 | 4.25 | 0.13664 | 0.14991 | 65.5875 |
The mithqāl in another more modern calculation is as follows:
| class="wikitable" |
| Unit
! Mithqāl !Nākhud !Gram |
|---|
| Mithqāl
| 1 |19 |3.642 |0.117 |
Nakhud is a Baháʼí unit of mass used by Bahá'u'lláh.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7oQAQAAIAAJ&q=nakhuds |last=Smith |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Smith (historian) |year=2000 |edition=illustrated, reprint |title=Nakhud |pages=250 |encyclopedia=A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |publisher=Oneworld Publications |place=Oxford |isbn=1-85168-184-1 |access-date=2020-10-20 |via=Google Books |url-access=limited |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701083647/https://books.google.com/books?id=t7oQAQAAIAAJ&q=nakhuds |url-status=live }} The mithqāl had originally consisted of 24 nakhuds, but in the Bayán, the collective works of the Báb, this was reduced to 19.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5ryCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA508|title=La relevancia de la pragmática en la traducción de textos multi-culturales: versión del Kitab-i-Aqdas|last=Honeyman|first=Nobel Augusto Perdu|date=2004-05-05|publisher=Universidad Almería|isbn=9788482406473|pages=508|language=es}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}{{Wiktionary}}
{{Islamic banking and finance}}
Category:Ottoman units of measurement