Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … In this chapter, two matters are mentioned: First, that one should not go out to meet caravans bringing merchandise before they reach the market or marketplace, because it is possible that the buyer may misrepresent the prices and purchase goods from them at a cheap rate; this would be deception and cause harm. If someone does buy goods from a caravan, then when the owner reaches the market, he will have the right to reclaim his goods from the buyer.

The second issue is that a city-dweller should not sell the goods of a villager; there are several ahadith indicating this subject. As Sayyiduna Anas radi Allahu anhu says: "We were forbidden that a city-dweller should sell for a villager, even if he is his full brother from his father and mother..." (Bukhari: 2161, Muslim: 1523, and the wording is his [i.e., Muslim's])

In this matter, the protection of both the city-dwellers and the rural traders is intended. Often, it happens that city people buy goods from rural traders at cheap rates, which harms the villagers, and due to the city brokers, the urban public has to buy those goods at expensive prices. If the government provides the facility that the urban public can buy goods directly from the rural people, then both will benefit, and perhaps in this way the monster of inflation will also be subdued.

Dear readers! Pakistan is an agricultural country, but why did the urban public fall into a wheat crisis just a few days after the wheat harvest in 2008 and 2009? If the commercial laws of the Shariah had been implemented, and centers had been provided for the farmers to bring wheat to the cities, giving the urban people the opportunity to buy wheat from them, then the faces of the hoarders would have faded on their own, and the public would have been saved from the torment of inflation. In this matter, the culprits are the brokers, commission agents, and hoarders; these people neither pay the farmers on time nor bring goods to the market when the public needs them.

It is absolutely not the objective of the Shariah that the entire public should be afflicted with inflation due to the profits of a few people. Because of opposing the hadith of this chapter, a few brokers and hoarders earn billions of rupees, but the public is left longing for two kilos of flour and one kilo of rice. Truly, the well-wisher of humanity, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said: "No city-dweller should sell for a villager. Leave the people (and let them settle their matters among themselves); Allah provides sustenance to some through others." (Muslim: 1522) Sayyiduna Jabir radi Allahu anhu narrated this hadith.

Compared to city-dwellers, the hearts of the farmers are more generous; they do not even take money for small quantities of vegetables, and items like fresh coriander and green chilies are not charged for at all. Similarly, other vegetables are also available from them at cheap prices. But due to the system of brokerage and commission agents, one hears the vegetable seller saying that today fresh coriander will not be available for less than ten rupees, one kilo of radish for fifty rupees, and one kilo of turnip for eighty (80) rupees.

The farmer complains that the rate for his produce is not being set correctly and that the expenses incurred on the crop are not being recovered, while the urban public is facing a severe shortage of food items. What is the reason for this? The government should promote a Shariah-based environment among its people, mold the country's trade into the framework of the commercial laws set by the Shariah, and strongly discourage hoarders.