Explaining the Ruling on Hoarding, Price Fixing, and Price Increases in Seasonal Markets
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The hadith prohibiting hoarding and the hadith prohibiting...
The Shaykh:
This harms the people. Otherwise, people sell as they please. Leave the people alone; Allah provides for some of them from others. No one prevents anyone. No one stops the sale of food, nor the sale of clothing, nor the sale of donkeys, nor the sale of cattle. Leave the people alone; Allah provides for some of them from others, as long as there is no harm to the people. However, if a person hoards something that harms the people, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is prohibited. And if they restrict the people, things will fall apart and become corrupt. This means that Allah sets the prices for the people. By His wisdom, He makes their sustenance flow and their trade proceed as He wills, Blessed and Exalted is He. If the rulers interfere, things become corrupt, the markets become corrupt, and the people are harmed. But if they leave them alone, things proceed well.
The questioner:
In Makkah during the days of Hajj or the days of Ramadan, meaning the days of crowding, the taxi drivers there raise the prices, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
This thing has causes. I say to him: causes. The scarcity of taxis and the large number of people. This does not require hoarding. There is no way around this.
Another questioner:
May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
In some hadiths.
Another questioner:
Honey.
The Shaykh:
With his food. The people's food was between two days, and perhaps it was... Allah in al-Fajr... in some of them, its chain has some criticism. But the hadith of Ma'mar is more authentic; it cannot be that there is no concern. This is more authentic. From two riyals they go up to twenty riyals. The devil. If the need calls for this, it is not this kind of hoarding. This is due to the large number of people, the crowding. Likewise, if the people have food and they are all selling, but the food in people's hands is scarce and little, this is by the command of Allah, Exalted and Majestic.
The questioner:
I say that all of these are among the names of Allah.
The Shaykh:
Yes, does the one who performs the pre-dawn prayer (Tahajjud) also perform the pre-dawn meal (Suhur)?
The questioner:
The one who spreads out (the prayer mat).
The Shaykh:
They are all among the names of Allah. Yes. Al-Qabidh (The Withholder) and Al-Basir (The All-Seeing) are two names combined in a dual form.
The questioner:
Essential goods and secondary goods.
The Shaykh:
If hoarding harms the people, and the one in authority, with his experience, sees that it harms the people, he prohibits it. Otherwise, he leaves the people to sell, and everyone sells, until the people find ease, until provision becomes abundant among the people, until the people seek [what is good], and the hearts become calm. However, if the need calls for these [goods] to be [controlled by] the one in authority.
The hadith prohibiting hoarding and the hadith prohibiting...
The Shaykh:
This harms the people. Otherwise, people sell as they please. Leave the people alone; Allah provides for some of them from others. No one prevents anyone. No one stops the sale of food, nor the sale of clothing, nor the sale of donkeys, nor the sale of cattle. Leave the people alone; Allah provides for some of them from others, as long as there is no harm to the people. However, if a person hoards something that harms the people, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
There is no harm and no reciprocating harm
لا ضرر ولا ظفرThe questioner:
In Makkah during the days of Hajj or the days of Ramadan, meaning the days of crowding, the taxi drivers there raise the prices, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
This thing has causes. I say to him: causes. The scarcity of taxis and the large number of people. This does not require hoarding. There is no way around this.
Another questioner:
May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
In some hadiths.
Another questioner:
Honey.
The Shaykh:
With his food. The people's food was between two days, and perhaps it was... Allah in al-Fajr... in some of them, its chain has some criticism. But the hadith of Ma'mar is more authentic; it cannot be that there is no concern. This is more authentic. From two riyals they go up to twenty riyals. The devil. If the need calls for this, it is not this kind of hoarding. This is due to the large number of people, the crowding. Likewise, if the people have food and they are all selling, but the food in people's hands is scarce and little, this is by the command of Allah, Exalted and Majestic.
The questioner:
I say that all of these are among the names of Allah.
The Shaykh:
Yes, does the one who performs the pre-dawn prayer (Tahajjud) also perform the pre-dawn meal (Suhur)?
The questioner:
The one who spreads out (the prayer mat).
The Shaykh:
They are all among the names of Allah. Yes. Al-Qabidh (The Withholder) and Al-Basir (The All-Seeing) are two names combined in a dual form.
The questioner:
Essential goods and secondary goods.
The Shaykh:
If hoarding harms the people, and the one in authority, with his experience, sees that it harms the people, he prohibits it. Otherwise, he leaves the people to sell, and everyone sells, until the people find ease, until provision becomes abundant among the people, until the people seek [what is good], and the hearts become calm. However, if the need calls for these [goods] to be [controlled by] the one in authority.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام [ ابن باز ] [ الشرح الجديد ]، تابع باب شروطه وما نهي عنه منه - 4 — islamhouse.com (12:57)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.