Muslim

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
A city-dweller is not permitted to unjustly take advantage of a villager’s simplicity; he should neither purchase his goods as a broker nor bring goods from the market for him.

(2)
Imam Bukhari rahimahullah has adopted a particular method in this regard and has established three headings concerning it:
In the first heading, he mentioned its reprehensibility (karahah) with the word "hal."
In the second heading, he declared buying and selling with a commission (ujrah) as reprehensible.
And in this third heading, he restricted the negation to brokerage (dalalah).
In a narration of Sahih Muslim, these words are found:
“We were forbidden that any city-dweller should sell the goods of a villager, even if he were his real brother or father.”
(Sahih Muslim, Al-Buyu’, Hadith: 3828(1523))
In any case, the prohibited situation is that a stranger brings such goods from a village or another city which are needed by everyone, and he wishes to sell them at the price of that day. If a city-dweller says to him, “Leave your goods with me so that I may gradually sell them at a higher price,” this is not allowed.
Some jurists (fuqaha) say that the ahadith in which this prohibition is mentioned are abrogated (mansukh).
According to them, doing so is absolutely permissible.
In our view, their position is questionable.

(3)
It should be clear that just as it is not permissible for a city-dweller to sell the goods of a villager, likewise it is not permissible for him to buy them, because the word “bay’” is used in both senses (buying and selling).
And Allah knows best.

Benefits and Issues:
The hadiths mentioned in this chapter shed light on the issue of brokerage (dalali).
The Noble Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said that no townsman should sell goods on behalf of a villager.
Ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) said that this means a townsman should not become a broker (dalal) for a villager.
In the last hadith of the chapter, the wisdom behind this is explained: that one should not interfere in people’s buying and selling.
Allah, the Exalted, provides sustenance to people through one another.
This is an exhortation to keep the forces of the market free.
For this reason, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did not consider it permissible to fix prices.
Rather, he regarded prices as the result of the natural balance of supply and demand.
There is no doubt that those who bring essential goods from villages to the city—
to entice them and artificially raise prices through their own efforts, and then to become a partner in that profit—is, fundamentally, an undesirable interference in a free market.
This causes essential goods to become unjustifiably expensive.
Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade this.
On the other hand, in the very first hadith of Abu Dawud’s Kitab al-Buyu‘, it is mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), upon going to the market, called brokers (dalals) by the more honorable name of “merchant” (tajir), instead of “simsar,” which is a non-Arabic word.
This made them very happy.
The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) advised them that in matters of buying and selling, people are prone to errors.
Therefore, you should continue to give charity.
From this, it is evident that brokerage existed as a formal institution.
And the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did not abolish it. In cities, essential goods arrive from far-off places on a large scale.
When the merchant is not present with the goods, or the goods are so plentiful that he cannot sell them all himself,
or due to unfamiliarity with local languages, commercial terms, customs, and the reliability or unreliability of local trading parties, those bringing goods face severe difficulties—then the services of a local broker or agent become necessary for them.
Otherwise, they would not send their goods to the market.
Therefore, this business cannot be abolished.
Nor did the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) order brokers to cease their business.
Apparently, both matters seem contradictory.
But if both are considered in their proper context, there is, in reality, no contradiction.
The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), instead of ordering the closure of the brokerage business, said regarding one aspect of this business that no townsman should sell on behalf of a villager.
That is, merchants from other regions may benefit from the services of brokers.
However, in the case of those living around the city who bring their agricultural produce to sell in the city,
there should be no interference in their transactions,
so that the buying and selling of these goods continues in a natural manner.
This is the position of Imam Malik.
Our jurists have taken the meaning of your statement, “Allah provides sustenance to people through one another,”
to be simply this:
that those who bring goods from villages will sell them cheaply in the market,
which will be for the collective benefit of the townspeople.
What is seen nowadays is the opposite: municipal authorities have legally compelled those who bring small quantities of goods from villages to sell their goods through brokers.
The result is that, on one hand, goods have become expensive for the common customer,
and on the other hand, villagers receive very little for their produce.
All the profit is taken by the middlemen.
Everyday goods, whose supply comes from the villages,
if separated from the interference of brokers,
as is the command of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam),
then both parties would benefit greatly.
This is the true meaning of your statement, “Do not interfere—Allah provides sustenance to people through one another.”

See Hadith: 4496, Benefit Number: 2.