About the Journal

The name AFRIDINAR combines “Afri” (Africa) with “dinar”, the historic gold currency first standardized by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 696–697 CE, when Islamic coinage broke decisively from earlier Byzantine and Sasanian imagery to establish its own monetary identity. The dinar became the dominant currency across the early Islamic world, facilitating trade from Spain to Central Asia, and remains, to this day, the historical reference point for value, trust, and monetary stability within the Islamic economic tradition.

The name positions this journal as the academic home for the study of Islamic economics and finance across Africa, a discipline with deep historical roots on the continent (Islamic trade networks, currencies, and financial instruments have shaped African economic history for over a millennium) and an increasingly active present, as African markets engage with sukuk issuance, Islamic banking expansion, and Islamic social finance at a growing scale.