يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْكُمْ (29:4)

Believers! Do not devour one another’s wealth by wrongful means except through trading by mutual consent. (4:29)

This verse prohibits a person from devouring other people’s wealth through means which are against justice, honesty, fairness and against the good conventions of a society. It is this directive of the Quran which forms the basis of all prohibitions in Islam that pertain to economic matters. Obtaining money through illegal gratification, theft, extortion, lying, co-operation with evil, embezzlement, misappropriation, consuming unclaimed items without publicizing them, all come under it. These evils require no further discussion since they are universally acknowledged sins in every society and in every religion. Transactions and activities which become a source of deceit or damage for the parties involved are also corollaries of this directive. Their various forms which the Prophet (sws) forbade in his own times are:

Selling something before its possession is taken. [1]

Selling grain bought in mounds before bringing it to the place where it is sold. [2]

Selling and purchasing done by a city-dweller for a villager. [3]

Increasing one’s bid in an auction just for deception. [4]

Bargaining when someone else is bargaining. [5]

Muhaqalah: Selling crop when it is still in the spikes. [6]

Muzabanah: Selling the dates which are on a date-tree in exchange for plucked dates. [7]

Muawamah: Selling the fruits of trees for many years. [8]

Thuniya: Leaving an unspecified exception in a bargain. One of its forms, for example was that the seller would say: “I sell my grain to you, but I will take something out of it.” [9]

Mulamasah: A deal in which a person, without thinking, just touches the other person’s cloth and a deal is made in this manner. [10]

Munabadhah: A deal in which people throw something towards one another and, in this way, a bargain is made. [11]

Bay ila Habal al-Habalah: A deal in which people sell camels by saying: “Whatever offspring this camel gives birth to and when that offspring gets pregnant, whatever it gives birth to, then the [last] offspring is bought by me.” [12]

Bay al-Hasah: In pre-Islamic times, such a bargain existed generally in two forms: (a) people would make a deal about a piece of land and then the buyer would throw a pebble; the distance covered by the pebble would be regarded as the length of the sold land, and (b) people would throw a pebble and say that whatever thing it touched would be considered as sold. [13]

Selling fruits of a tree before their quality and characteristics become evident. [14]

Selling spikes before they turn white and become safe from calamities. [15]

Selling a commodity which is defective, except when the buyer is informed of its defects. [16]

Holding the milk of camels and goats in their udders before selling it. [17]

Intercepting tradesmen and buying their merchandise before they reach the markets. [18]

Making a deal by giving money in advance such that a person obtains the item after it is ready except if this transaction is carried out for a fixed measure, a specified weight and a definite period of time. [19]

Mukhabarah: Adopting methods of crop-sharing in which the profit of the landlord is fixed before hand. [20]

Adopting methods of crop-sharing in which the production of a particular area of land is regarded as the right of the landlord. [21]

Selling jointly owned properties without giving the shareholders a chance to buy them except if the ownership divisions are determined and the paths are separated. [22]

These are the various forms of sale and purchase and crop-sharing which the Prophet (sws) prohibited in his times. Since all the above mentioned directives are based on the underlying bases of deceit and damage, the directive of prohibition will stand dissolved in circumstances in which these bases no longer exist, just as if, as a result of evolution and development of civilizations, these bases emerge in some new economic activity, then that activity will also stand prohibited.

Gambling and interest also belong to this category of devouring wealth through wrongful means. This writer will now venture to elaborate the view of the Quran in detail on these two hideous crimes.

(i) – Gambling:

Discussion 31659

(ii) – Interest:

Discussion 31673

(Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

___________________________________

[1]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 342, (no. 2132); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 662, (no. 3839).

[2]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 341, (no. 2124); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 662, (no. 3841).

[3]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 346, (no. 2161); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 594, (no. 3459).

[4]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 344, (no. 2142); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 660, (no. 3818)

[5]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 346, (no. 2161); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 594, (no. 3459).

[6]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 347-349, (nos. 2172, 2173, 2184, 2186).

[7]. Ibid.

[8]. Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 671, (no. 3913).

[9]. Ibid.

[10]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 97, (no. 584); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 658-659, (no. 3801).

[11]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 341, (no. 2144); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 639, (no. 3806).

[12]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 344, (no. 2143); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 659, (no. 3810).

[13]. Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 658, (no. 3808).

[14]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 242, (no. 1486); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 666, (no.3865).

[15]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 242, (no. 1486); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 666, (no.3864).

[16]. Ibn Majah, Sunan, vol. 3, 64, (no. 2246).

[17]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 344, (no. 2148).

[18]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 346, (no. 2165); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 660, (no.3819).

[19]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 357, (no. 2240); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 697, (no. 4118).

[20]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 383, (no. 2381); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 671, (no. 3911).

[21]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 373-374, (no. 2327).

[22]. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 359, (no. 2257); Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 671, (no. 4127).