Subdivided into dirhams and fulûs, it was modelled after the historical gold dinar that was first introduced in the Muslim world during the time of the Umayyad Caliphate.

In a 2014 issue of the online IS magazine Dabiq, the organization announced that it was preparing to mint an independent currency based on the one used in the historical caliphates.

In the 2015 video The Rise of the Khilafah and the Return of the Gold Dinar, IS announced that these coins were set for release.

A number of analysts stated that the organization was motivated to produce such a currency for pan-Islamic propaganda purposes or for emphasizing the sovereign statehood of the so-called IS caliphate, or both.

[9] In 2015, Turkish authorities discovered an underground IS minting facility in Şahinbey, a town near Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border.