Are paper currencies and circulating money considered a violation of the Prophetic hadiths that prohibit selling for anything other than dinars and dirhams, and threaten punishment for those who engage in transactions with commodities [instead of currency]?

The first Hadith: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the sale of fruits before they ripen, and the sale of fruits for fruits, and what is meant by the Hadith is the prohibition of selling fruits before their صلاح (soundness/ripening) becomes apparent, and the prohibition of selling fruits for fruits, except for Araya.

The second Hadith: This Hadith deals with the punishment for abandoning Jihad in the way of Allah, and the humiliation that results from it for Muslims. It is the Hadith: "If you engage in Inah transactions, and hold onto the tails of cattle, and are content with agriculture, and abandon Jihad, Allah will inflict humiliation upon you, and He will not remove it until you return to your religion."

As for paper money: It is a currency in its own right, and it has the same Sharia rulings established for gold and silver concerning usury (riba), zakat, salam (forward selling), and all other related rulings.