Why Do We Have Arabic Words and Letters on Our Currencies?

Why do we have arabic words and letters on our currencies? Can someone please explain this to me? I still think this is madness, Nigeria is neither a muslim country nor an arab nation.

Well Explain that to the Northerners. How many presidents has Nigeria had ? How many head of state has Nigerian had ? and of all the numbers, how many came from the North or are Muslim ?

@Odeku Have you seen the 1000 naira note pictures? Its also got arabic words on it, now if the presidents determines the design of the note, are you saying Obasanjo is the one who asked them to put the arab words on the new N1000 note?

Let's say that the words were written in Yoruba, my mother tongue, instead of arabic. Would my stomach be filled with food, or would my bank account be filled with money because of that? How is this issue important at all?

Well Seun you have a point. I just think It is time for all Nigerians to wake up and quit following the paddy wagon of the Northerners. They run every thing in Nigeria from day one.

Does it matter what Language is in the currency? The bottom line is how much of it you've got in your pocket.

razo , Money is not everything you can have all the money in the world and be miserable.

i have posted the answer to this many times and no one wants to listen. arabic script doesnt mean arabic language, just like latin letters dont mean latin languag. we have a bunch of latin letters on our currency, but are we latin or do we speak latin? arabic letters can be used for other languages other than arabic. and it has nothing to do with religion. do latin letters like those we are using to comunicate here make us all christians

besides why stop at the letters. the numbers 1 2 3 etc are also or indo-arabic origin. why dont we remove the numbers too

Obong, they've started the process by removing the naira sign from our 1000 naira note. Who knows, maybe next time they'll remove the indo-arabic numbers?

Why on earth will anybvody having the nigerian blood running through his veins and atteries ever think of removing the naira sign from any of nigeria's currencies? What will it be repalced with? Dollar sign or Sterling Sign?

Gosh, this is irritable

I dont know what they're thinking. Signs is supposed to be attached with the value of the money to make it real. What if the Naira is spent in another country other than Nigeria like the Dollar. They make the money disgusting...to be continued

The arabic sign is well to say a logo...pls who knows where our money is printed i know for sure its not here in NAIJA just maybe its printed in Dubai or in one of U.A.E countries.

i pondered over this recently and me thinks its for the benefit of the grossly illiterate hausas. imagine the nomad in the bush having a feel of what the money is saying. why did they put the pictures of those dudes anyway, i feel they are insignificant

Esiayo, if a Fulani nomad (cattle rearer) can read and understand Arabic, then he's not illiterate!

click here to discuss the new 1000 naira note

@obong, do you c any reality in the ECO? It has been long this has been a subject of discuss.

does it make any difference,written in Yoruba,igbo or Hausa,I'll just say its printed for us to spend and have more of it in our accounts...

Copied this from an article on NigeriaWorld.

RE: ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS ON THE NAIRA
Kindly permit me space in your journal to respond to a recent article titled “Arabic Inscriptions on the Naira” credited to a gentleman by the name Stephen Irinyemi. <snip>

Stephen, the words with the Arabic alphabets on the naira are, in fact, in hausa language and not Arabic at all. The use of Arabic letters in other languages is not new. Farsi, Pashtun, Urdu are among languages that use Arabic letters but are themselves quite unintelligible to an Arab unless he or she is educated in the said languages.

Similarly, your article and mine written in Latin based letters do not qualify for Latin. The words in Arabic letters you find so offensive on the naira, in transliteration, read; naira biyar (five naira), naira goma (ten naira), naira ishirin (twenty naira), etc.

Long before the British colonized our land and introduced their civilization the only medium of learning in the Kanem-Borno and Hausa Fulani civilizations in what is now northern Nigeria was in Arabic alphabets.

Continued: http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/jan/311.html

@Darlingbas, [I did not understand your post] at all. So, is Nigeria a Christian nation? Or, what the heck are you talking about? I checked out your picture, you look like those religious fanatics; people who are wont to foment trouble in Nigeria. I think Nigeria has gone through enough religious strifes. If you think by Obasanjo being a "Christian" he can just do things at will, you're joking.

And I saw somebody post something like the northerners are illiterate or nomadic -- you guys definitely don't know what you're talking about. I am not a northerner; in fact, I'm Yoruba, but tell me how many Ibos are uneducated that are suffering from serious illiteracy (they're at Alaba, Onitsha, and Okrika markets, selling cheap Taiwanese electronics); also, how many Yorubas are there with chronic illiteracy, selling meat at Ijora 7-UP? Please, you guys ought to come off your high horses! You think because the northerners are Muslims they are illiterate? In fact, christians are the most illiterate beings on earth -- if you want to know.

Let's talk about what is not fair: Is our calendar Gregorian or Islamic? Are our rest days (Saturday and Sunday) Judeo-Christian or Islamic? In Islamic nations Thursday and Friday are rest days. I can go on and on about things that are unfair, but favorable to the christians of Nigeria. So, do Muslims go about crying or quibling about those issues? No!

It is a fact, there are more Muslims in Nigeria than christians; with the exception of the eastern Ibos that are predominately christian, there are more Muslims in the south than chrstians. Are you going to say that the Yorubas are mainly christian? As a matter of fact, there are more Muslims than christians in Yorubaland. Period!

Seun, you should let people know that religion issues are touchy and sensitive. They should refrain from those issues in order for peace to rule in the world!

Thanks to the dude that said that the fact it is an arabic letter does not make it an arabic word. It makes me a wiser person you know.

So what if there are Arabic words on the naira note? If you don't want it, better leave it alone. It is not calling your name, abi?

I don't even have to bring out the many reasons why it is perfectly reasonable to have it on the note. Look at the long history of Nigeria. FYI the languages Hausa and Yoruba were formulated from Arabic, or at least, have some elements of Arabic in it, due to the trade relationship between us and the Arabs. So, as a trader, would you understand why it is only fair to have a currency that both partners in trade would understand?

In fact, me a no no for am oooo!

Im not really against the fact. But i think we have gone past those level. Yes in the past there was trade unionism between us and the Arab world but that has declined for past years. I dont see any reason for those words!

There was a trade thing with them for a long tym and so it remained in the tradition of Currency printers to keep the original symbols and all there, so as not to change the naira even though the trading was obsolete.

well if those strange writings are hausa not arabic then i think the reasons are obvious.

Yeah, right! The same way Hebrew, Greek (the two languages of Bible), Arhamaic (language Jesus spoke), French, and English will be strange to any non-speakers of those foreign languages. Their writings will be so foreign and meaningless. Got that right?

ajisafe, i think ure taking this too personal. i believe everyone has a rite to voice their opinions on this forum. Y make personal attacks on people? wats all this tribalism?and religious bigotry? please stop it religion is a sensitive topic. why they even posted ur remark,i find hard to comprehend.
@seun. u guys should have known better than to post that!

Seun, you should let people know that religion issues are touchy and sensitive. They should refrain from those issues in order for peace to rule in the world!


@alheri, I originally posted the above-written statement. So, please, don't be emotional at all! Newton's Third Law of Motion states that "To every action, there's equal or opposite reaction." Thank you.

i thinks a couple of us should have a rethink that the inscriptions on our currencies does not affect the money in our pocket or generalizing us under one religion. well it may not do this things but i think its necessary for me everybody to understand the words on our currency if a foreigner ask me what those Arabic inscription means, i wouldn't know and that's really embarrassing if we have a nation language why do we then communicate in an isolated and uncommon language.

basically i think it inappropriate to have any other language on our national currency apart from English

@ajisafe. one love,keep us together. youre my brother and i love you like a friend! lets make peace,not war. just thot we should all be matured about all this.

The truth is that there will always be left wingers and trouble makers.. The only problem I see with that legal tender is the fact that the insignal that denotes the type of currency was not imputed on it. We have heard that some people in some states have refused to accept it as payment for goods/services but I tell u, all that will stop in due course when its awareness most have gained momentum...so....................
4 the nation to be a beta place 4 us and our numerous unborn(S) we must see ourselves as one body. We should not be making such referals as "northener" or "christian" or "illetrates". We know we have these sorts amongst us, some of us are this very things we call other people. Imagine someone getting upset becuase he/she saw an arabic sign,letter or script in the face of the naira..... Nah wa oh... and to add fuel to fire, the Bobo did not even know the meaning of what was writing in there.. We gatso stop this kind of reasoning and look behond the horizon of tribe and language and relegion and bullshit stuff that will only bring destruction, chaos, pain and maybe death to the people.....We should channel our strenght to the making of a strong and vaible nation were likes of formal dictator and chalatant will be made to face the full wrath of the law and where respect and the rule of law will reign paramont in the lives of the populace... ....so that we may know..



Ps.... repect to Ajisafe and Alheri. Pls continue to spread the word of peace and harmony

@alheri,
One love to you too. I'm for peace!

But I don't think we should ostracize the North because of its huge Muslim population. How do we want their offspring to feel if all they see and read in popular fora is people measuring their ability and worth by what used to be their forefathers' trade? Imagine, till date, people still refer to us from Ibadan and its environs (Ikire, Gbongan, Iwo, Ede, Oshogbo etc) as "meat sellers!" True, some of our people (mostly illiterates then) used to sell meat in those days. And I have never sold meat in my life! I also want people to know that speaking or reading or writing in Arabic does not make one an illiterate. Remember that English is just like Arabic. A mere language! In fact, there were times when subsequent education ministries in Nigeria made it mandatory for students to learn world languages like Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, German, Italian and etc, as parts of our educational curricular. So, if I chose to speak any of these languages instead of English would I be considered an illiterate? Let me tell you something: Late Abubakar Gumi won a very prestigious award as both an Arabic and Islamic scholar, while Wole Soyinka won the Nobel laurel prize, very prestigious indeed, in English literature, could we have said that Wole's award was better because it was for English? No! Languages are simply what they are -- languages!

Did you know that white English (Anglo-Saxons) used to dwell in caves and groves and were so backward that they ate raw, uncooked foods? Did you know that for thousands of years while the Arabs were enjoying a tremendous literacy, the whole of Europe was in total darkness? Did you know that the Arabs (while spreading Islam across Europe) were the first alchemists? Did you know that an Arab invented calculus? Did you know that algebra was from the Arabic word al-ghibr? I know some Nigerians are quick to remind us that "English is our lingua franca." Personnaly, I prefer my mother tongue, Yoruba, to this borrowed and foreign language, English. But in order for me to be "socially" and economically relevant in today's world, my parents had to send me to learn English. I love languages, but I love Yoruba best!

There's nothing wrong in being nomadic! Wasn't the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) a goat herder and caravan trader? Wasn't Jesus born inside a very dirty and stinking animal stable? Both men are, today, more influential than ever! Their influences are prominent in our daily lives. Imagine all those senseless religious combats; Osama Bin Laden's and George Bush's idiosyncrasies nonetheless.

And to many of you who didn't know: The Holy Bible was not written in English. The Old Testament (Torah) was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament (Evangel/injil) was written in Greek. The Romans stole a copy to their country and translated it into their language. Later, down the road, the eccentric King James of England sent emissaries to Rome to secure a copy, which was later ommited and added to and translated into English. Thus, the incredibly popular "King James Version" of the bible. If the bible were to have been left in its original form, Hebrew and Greek, would you people be calling the Christians of Nigeria illiterates today? And remember Jesus neither spoke nor wrote in English! In my diary, my mother tongue, Yoruba, is superior to English! Thank you.

@ajisafe. AM FROM KADUNA STATE!!!...............