Explanation of the Book of Sales-12
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The Shaykh : Then the author (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "And from Ma'mar ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with them both)".
Then the author quoted: "From Ma'mar ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2154Sahih (Darussalam)"
Hoarding means withholding a thing, withholding and holding onto it; this is hoarding. The meaning is: no one hoards—O 'Abd al-Rahman—the meaning is that no one withholds a thing and prevents it from being sold.
Hoarding is of two types: hoarding in the sense of absolute withholding, such that he does not sell; everyone who comes to him asking for the commodity he has, he refuses to sell it. The second is restricted hoarding, meaning that he hoards the goods except at a price he is satisfied with, even if it is above the customary price. Both are wrong. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2154Sahih (Darussalam), and the wrongdoer is one who commits an error intentionally and deliberately, and its opposite is the one who makes a mistake, who commits an error without intent.
So, the hoarder is a wrongdoer, meaning: one who commits an error intentionally. And if he is a wrongdoer, then it is obligatory to return him to the right path, and that is by setting a price for him. If he has prevented it entirely, he is forced to sell. If he has prevented it except at the price he sees fit, he is forced to sell at the price of the equivalent.
Then, the apparent meaning of the hadith is the generality of hoarding in everything, and some scholars restricted it to things that are necessary, where their hoarding harms people. As for things that are not necessary, a person may hoard them, such as matters of perfection.
And the correct view is the generality, because the matters of perfection and necessity are relative; a thing may be a matter of perfection for some people and necessary for others, and it is not possible to regulate this matter.
So we say: anything a person hoards from what is sold in the markets, he is considered a wrongdoer,Sunan Ibn Majah 2154Sahih (Darussalam).
Then, the apparent meaning of the hadith is that there is no difference between the hoarder being one person who buys everything in the market and then hoards it, or a group that hoards this thing, agreeing that they will not sell it except at a specific price that is not available from others, such as bakers, for example, or butchers.
The bakers said: We will agree to sell bread for three for the riyal, but they make a profit if they sell it for four for the riyal. Here they have hoarded.
The butchers said: We will agree to sell the kilo for twenty riyals, and they make a profit if they sell it for fifteen riyals. These are hoarders. It is obligatory for the one in authority to force them to sell as people sell.
So if someone says: The people are them; there is no one who sells these commodities except them? We say: In that case, the one in authority estimates the capital, estimates the profit, and estimates the expenses and costs that result from repairing this thing, then adds to it a specific percentage that is usually sufficient for profit. For example, he says: We estimate the value of the flour, the value of the workers, the value of the fuel, the value of the rent for the place, then we estimate another percentage added to this value that is approximate, and we force people to sell in this manner.
From that is what is now found in pharmacies, where the value of medicines has been determined and people no longer manipulate it. For this reason, we find that in things whose value has not been determined, there is much manipulation. You enter a shop and say: How much is this commodity? He says to you: For a hundred. And you enter your neighbor's shop and say: How much are these commodities? He says: For fifty. To this extent, meaning the difference is half, and the commodities are the same and the market is the same. Yes, all this is due to hoarding, and most buyers do not know the prices, so they buy as it happens.
Indeed, it is astonishing that some people buy a commodity at a low price and then offer it for sale and say: If I mention its price and a customary profit, people say: This is a defective commodity. And if I raise it and say: The price is such and such, they say: This is a good commodity. They say: They buy this commodity from the other country for ten, and sell it in this market for fifty, or even eighty. Why?
They said: By Allah, because if I say: This commodity is for fifteen, they say: This is a defective commodity. Is it permissible for this man to do this?
The student: It is not permissible.
The Shaykh : No, we say: There is harm to people in that, and it is obligatory for the market inspectors to look into it. If the value is fifteen, they go to the other sellers, and if they have raised the value above this customary amount, they force them to lower the value so that people know that everything in the market is on the same level. Most people's minds are with what they hear or see, as the common people say: "His mind is in his eyes and his mind is in his ear". If he hears that the price is high, he says: This is a good commodity, this is good. And if it is low, even if the commodity is good, he says: This is defective, it is nothing.
So, this hadith was brought by the author (may Allah have mercy on him) after the hadith of Anas to be used as evidence that if the cause of high prices is the hoarding of people, then they are wrongdoers, meaning: the people who hoarded, and it is obligatory to set a price for them, and that they sell with a reasonable profit.
Then the author quoted: "From Ma'mar ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said:
No one hoards but a sinner.
لا يحتكر إلا خاطئHoarding means withholding a thing, withholding and holding onto it; this is hoarding. The meaning is: no one hoards—O 'Abd al-Rahman—the meaning is that no one withholds a thing and prevents it from being sold
except a wrongdoer
إلا خاطئHoarding is of two types: hoarding in the sense of absolute withholding, such that he does not sell; everyone who comes to him asking for the commodity he has, he refuses to sell it. The second is restricted hoarding, meaning that he hoards the goods except at a price he is satisfied with, even if it is above the customary price. Both are wrong. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
No one hoards but a sinner.
لا يحتكر إلا خاطئSo, the hoarder is a wrongdoer, meaning: one who commits an error intentionally. And if he is a wrongdoer, then it is obligatory to return him to the right path, and that is by setting a price for him. If he has prevented it entirely, he is forced to sell. If he has prevented it except at the price he sees fit, he is forced to sell at the price of the equivalent.
Then, the apparent meaning of the hadith is the generality of hoarding in everything, and some scholars restricted it to things that are necessary, where their hoarding harms people. As for things that are not necessary, a person may hoard them, such as matters of perfection.
And the correct view is the generality, because the matters of perfection and necessity are relative; a thing may be a matter of perfection for some people and necessary for others, and it is not possible to regulate this matter.
So we say: anything a person hoards from what is sold in the markets, he is considered a wrongdoer,
No one hoards but a sinner.
لا يحتكر إلا خاطئThen, the apparent meaning of the hadith is that there is no difference between the hoarder being one person who buys everything in the market and then hoards it, or a group that hoards this thing, agreeing that they will not sell it except at a specific price that is not available from others, such as bakers, for example, or butchers.
The bakers said: We will agree to sell bread for three for the riyal, but they make a profit if they sell it for four for the riyal. Here they have hoarded.
The butchers said: We will agree to sell the kilo for twenty riyals, and they make a profit if they sell it for fifteen riyals. These are hoarders. It is obligatory for the one in authority to force them to sell as people sell.
So if someone says: The people are them; there is no one who sells these commodities except them? We say: In that case, the one in authority estimates the capital, estimates the profit, and estimates the expenses and costs that result from repairing this thing, then adds to it a specific percentage that is usually sufficient for profit. For example, he says: We estimate the value of the flour, the value of the workers, the value of the fuel, the value of the rent for the place, then we estimate another percentage added to this value that is approximate, and we force people to sell in this manner.
From that is what is now found in pharmacies, where the value of medicines has been determined and people no longer manipulate it. For this reason, we find that in things whose value has not been determined, there is much manipulation. You enter a shop and say: How much is this commodity? He says to you: For a hundred. And you enter your neighbor's shop and say: How much are these commodities? He says: For fifty. To this extent, meaning the difference is half, and the commodities are the same and the market is the same. Yes, all this is due to hoarding, and most buyers do not know the prices, so they buy as it happens.
Indeed, it is astonishing that some people buy a commodity at a low price and then offer it for sale and say: If I mention its price and a customary profit, people say: This is a defective commodity. And if I raise it and say: The price is such and such, they say: This is a good commodity. They say: They buy this commodity from the other country for ten, and sell it in this market for fifty, or even eighty. Why?
They said: By Allah, because if I say: This commodity is for fifteen, they say: This is a defective commodity. Is it permissible for this man to do this?
The student: It is not permissible.
The Shaykh : No, we say: There is harm to people in that, and it is obligatory for the market inspectors to look into it. If the value is fifteen, they go to the other sellers, and if they have raised the value above this customary amount, they force them to lower the value so that people know that everything in the market is on the same level. Most people's minds are with what they hear or see, as the common people say: "His mind is in his eyes and his mind is in his ear". If he hears that the price is high, he says: This is a good commodity, this is good. And if it is low, even if the commodity is good, he says: This is defective, it is nothing.
So, this hadith was brought by the author (may Allah have mercy on him) after the hadith of Anas to be used as evidence that if the cause of high prices is the hoarding of people, then they are wrongdoers, meaning: the people who hoarded, and it is obligatory to set a price for them, and that they sell with a reasonable profit.