The original title of this series is Al-Kesab, meaning halal earning. In this journey we have been following the footsteps of Imam Muhammad bin al-Hassan al-Shaybani, the student of Abu Hanifa and the one who recorded and preserved the Hanafi school. The Hanafi tradition is deeply indebted to him.
He is the one who wrote what is probably the very first book on this subject in the 2nd century Hijri. Later, in the 5th century, Imam al-Ghazali, in his monumental work Ihya Ulum al-Din, which he divided into four major sections, dedicated one of those sections to transactions, or what he called al ‘adaat العادات. Imam al-Ghazali referred to it as العادات because it relates to habits, cultures, and the practical dealings of people. Under this section, Imam al-Ghazali also discusses كسب, the same theme that Muhammad bin al-Hassan al-Shaybani addressed: the subject of halal earning.
In this series, we have followed the sequence of these two great imams. Of course, we have also drawn from additional classical works and more recent sources to make the discussion relevant to our dealings today. But still, I try my best to keep Imam al-Ghazali’s sequence from the Ihya, because we have already covered the six main contracts found in the market, and we have spoken about their modern extensions: new forms of contracts, updated structures, and contemporary applications.
Today, we continue the same sequence set by Imam al-Ghazali. Just to refresh your memory, he mentioned that the topic of transactions contains five chapters. The first chapter concerns the virtues of halal earning, the encouragement from the Quran and Sunnah to seek that which is pure, and the reward attached to it. The second chapter concerns the knowledge of contracts, their ingredients, their conditions, and all the principles related to them.
Now, inshaAllah, we move to the third chapter. We are not going through Imam al-Ghazali’s words verbatim, but rather summarising and presenting the chapter in a clearer way, so that it becomes accessible and practical. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to absorb everything. So this is a paraphrased explanation, while still remaining faithful to the guidance and flow that Imam al-Ghazali placed in the Ihya Ulum as-Din. The third chapter discusses how to be just in your transactions.
How to be just in your transactions
Imam al-Ghazali begins this chapter by saying that a person might receive a fatwa stating that a particular transaction is valid, yet in reality the transaction may still harm people. It might not be pure, even if it technically fulfils the contract conditions. In other words, the tick-the-box exercise is not enough to make a transaction halal.
He explains that there are matters that may render a transaction invalid, haram, contaminated by haram, or doubtful. These depend on the scenario. He says there are many types of harm, and such harm can be directed either at individuals or at the public. The harm is therefore divided into two categories: individual harm and public harm. And of course, public harm is more prohibited than individual harm. Both are haram, but spreading harm to the wider community increases the severity.
Monopolistic hoarding of basic necessities
He then mentions the first type. One of the matters that is haram, even though you will not find it listed under the basic contract conditions, is what is known in Arabic as الاحتكار, Ihtiqar. Ihtiqar means hoarding commodities in order to manipulate prices. In this case, you are not selling, you are not buying, and you are technically not violating any of the standard contract conditions. Yet you are committing something haram. How? Because you hold back goods from the market so that prices rise, harming the people.
This is exactly what we are seeing today in Gaza, where some individuals hoard food and essential items in order to raise prices. And this can happen anywhere, not only in Gaza. We have seen it many times. This kind of action is haram. But first we need to understand which type of hoarding or storing of products falls under the prohibition. The scholars explain that it must relate to the necessities of people. For example, if someone stores makeup, nail polish, socks, or similar items, these are not necessities. If he stores them and waits for the price to rise, this is not something Islam interferes with.
Islam intervenes when the hoarding relates to essential goods, such as food. In earlier times it was grain; today we speak about bread, milk, and the basic necessities people rely on. If someone hoards these necessities to manipulate the market, then this becomes haram. The ruling varies from place to place, time to time, and according to the specific context, but this is the general principle.
This is why in the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said:
لَا يَحْتَكِرُ إِلَّا خَاطِئٌ
“No one hoards except a sinner.” (Sahih Muslim)
نَهَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَنِ الاحْتِكَارِ
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade hoarding.” (Sunan Abu Dawoud)
الجَالِبُ مَرْزُوقٌ وَالمُحْتَكِرُ مَلْعُونٌ
“The one who brings goods (to sell) is blessed, and the one who hoards is cursed.” 9ibn Majah)
Why? Because he harms the public. This is no longer individual harm. If you sell someone a faulty or defective product and do not disclose it, that is individual harm, and it is haram. But when you harm the whole community, the prohibition becomes even greater. This is the concept of ihtikar. Ihtikar is haram.
And again, ihtikar applies only to people’s necessities. You cannot say that a person is committing a haram act if he stores items that are not essential. As we said, if he stores carpets or blankets and is merely waiting for better prices, that is acceptable. There is no manipulation here. Manipulation, which is haram, happens when the product affects people’s basic needs such as food and drink: milk, bread, meat, and similar essentials.
So public harm and individual harm are both prohibited, but public harm is more severe. A new question among scholars today is whether the government can intervene and force such a businessman, the greedy man who hoards necessities, to sell his goods at a reasonable price. Can they do that? In normal circumstances, no. It is not for the government or ruler to force someone to sell his own property from an Islamic point of view.
However, in exceptional situations, such as when people are starving while he is storing large quantities of food to inflate prices, then the government may intervene. They can force him to sell at a fair price and prevent inflated exploitation. In several narrations, The Prophet ﷺ prohibited such oppressive practices. Imam al-Ghazali therefore considers this one of the prohibited acts in transactions. These are matters we did not cover earlier when speaking about contracts, their pillars, and their conditions. Here, all the contract conditions may be present, yet something outside the contract, ihtikar, makes the action haram.
The Prophet ﷺ prohibited ihtikar, the hoarding and manipulation of essential commodities.
The second thing Imam al-Ghazali mentions that we should avoid, besides ihtikar, is the practice of advertising and promoting fake products. I am paraphrasing al-Ghazali here to make it easier to understand. In our world today, we see this everywhere, on social media, on some TV channels, and in many online adverts. Products are manufactured to serve you one time; you use them once and they break. This is the business model. You think the item will last at least a year, but it does not last five minutes.
This is haram because you are cheating people. Advertisers promote something low quality as if it were excellent. Something fragile is advertised as solid and strong, unbreakable, reliable. The moment you buy it and try what you saw on the screen, it breaks. This is cheating, and it is haram. The Prophet ﷺ, in many narrations, prohibits cheating.
We often talk today about fake news and fake advertisement. This is exactly the issue: fake advertisement. It is all lies. The presenters lie. The actors who demonstrate the product lie. The entire script is built on lies. And many people, including you and me, have fallen into this trap. We bought something because the advert was so impressive. And as the saying goes, when something is too good to be true, it usually is. Too good to be true means something is not right. We know this now after being burned multiple times. It is a learning curve.
Promoting something fake, not real, not good, even if it makes money, makes that money haram because it is built on cheating. The Prophet ﷺ forbids cheating.
There are many ways people cheat, not only through fake products but also through dishonesty. You ask someone to weigh one kilogram, and he manipulates the scale and gives you 750 grams instead of 1000 grams. You do not realise, and he thinks he is clever. But he is eating haram. He is consuming haram because he is cheating.
There are many surahs in the Quran and many verses that speak about the consequences of cheating in weights and measures. Allah says:
«وَيْلٌ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ»
Woe to those who give less in measure. (Surat Mutaffifeen 1))
There is a whole surah named after this sin: cheating in weight. So when you measure something, when you weigh something, and you cheat, this is haram.
Haram is not only eating dead meat, or pork, or drinking alcohol. There are many other matters that are classified as haram. Cheating is haram. Any money earned through cheating is haram. And to make things worse, people use various methods to cheat. For example, someone may wear a very long garment, what some people call an Islamic dress, or a sister may wear hijab, or a man may grow a long beard. With all respect, but sometimes these outward appearances are used as tools to fool people. They dress in a certain way to gain trust, so that people will not question them, and then they betray that trust.
It is not only this. You may see something in the shop, an abaya, a long dress, a scarf, and when you ask about the quality, the seller begins to swear. Not swearing with bad language, but making oaths. He says, Wallahi, it is good quality. Wallahi, it is excellent. Wallahi, it is this and that. To me, that is a warning sign. When someone starts saying Wallahi repeatedly, I will not buy it. I know something is wrong. He wants to cover the defect with his oath. Wallahi, Wallahi, all part of the cunning process.
He may even have Quran recitation playing in the background, and he is holding a long tasbih, and every now and then he says astaghfirullah or bismillah. I am sorry to say this, but it is very annoying. Yet this is reality. Of course, there are many honest and trustworthy people. But unfortunately there are also very dishonest people who use the deen as a cover to cheat others. I have seen this myself, and I have many stories from friends who have been conned by people like this.
So if you see someone promoting his product with oaths, Wallahi, Bismillah, take it as a warning. Be careful. He is using the name of Allah to do something haram: to cheat. What can be uglier than this? So ugly, so haram. Using the name of Allah to eat haram? What is wrong with you?
And Wallahi, your rizq is already written. You will take your rizq whether through halal or haram. The amount will not change. But you choose the path through which you take it. So be careful, and be honest.
The Prophet ﷺ mentioned in many hadith the importance of truthfulness. According to Imam al-Ghazali, you should not praise your product with qualities it does not possess. You should not lie about it. And you should not hide its defects. If the buyer asks you, does it do this, does it do that, does it have any issues, any defects, you cannot hide them. You cannot say, yes it is perfect, yes it is excellent, yes I have two or three at home. You may have two or three, but they are not working. They are faulty. So do not cover the defects. That makes you a liar.
Be careful. It is not only charging interest that makes your income haram. Hiding defects also makes your income haram. Because if the person knew, he would not buy it. So you cheated him.
Remember the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:
الدِّينُ النَّصِيحَةُ
The religion is sincere advice. (Sahih Muslim)
So if he asks you whether it is good, then your naseeha is to be honest. If it is good, say yes, it is genuinely good. If it is not, then say, to be honest, it is not very good. The defects are one, two, three. It is up to you, take it, try it, see for yourself. But do not lie. That is honesty. That is halal rizq. But if you cheat, then you are eating haram.
Do not ever think, if I do not hide the defect, he will not buy it and I will not cover my bills this month. Do not listen to such whispers. Allah is the provider. If you avoid something haram for the sake of Allah, Allah will open the gates of halal for you.
In the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ says:
إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَدَعَ شَيْئًا اتِّقَاءَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا أَعْطَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا مِنْهُ
“You will never leave anything for the sake of Allah except that Allah will give you something better in return.” (Ahmad)
And this is very true. Wallahi it is true. Try it and you will see. Do it sincerely for Allah. If you know something is haram and you leave it for His sake, do not regret it. Allah will replace it with something better.
Imam Ali says you should also avoid overcharging people. If something is worth five pounds, do not exploit people. Put a profit, of course. No one says you cannot. And there is no fixed limit in Islam for profit margins. Some people say you cannot exceed one third profit, or you cannot charge more than 30 percent. There is no text that says this. You can even make 100 percent profit, it is allowed. But do not manipulate people’s necessities. Because for necessities, people will pay anything. And this is where oppression begins.
For example, this issue did not exist in early fiqh, but it exists now: gas and electricity. Are these necessities? Yes. Manipulating them, raising prices excessively, like what we see with BP, Shell, and similar companies, this is sucking the blood of the poor. Many people cannot pay their bills. Some elders died from the cold. This is haram.
In the best scenario, the government should step in and take control, giving the needy what they require. This is a clear example of manipulation and ihtikar, which the Prophet ﷺ prohibited.
So you should never hide defects, whether it is a car, a product, or anything you are selling. If you know of the defect, you must disclose it. But if you sold something and later the buyer discovered a fault which you genuinely had no knowledge of, then you are not considered to have cheated. Your money remains halal. However, they may return and negotiate a reduction in price because of the defect. That depends on the scenario, the nature of the product, and the terms attached to it.
Sometimes the item comes with a guarantee. In that case, the matter is not yours, you bought it from the factory and it carries a warranty. So you simply go through the procedures outlined in the guarantee. But inflating prices beyond fairness is not allowed, because it makes life difficult for people. This is why we suffer from inflation today. Inflation freezes the circulation of money in society. The Prophet ﷺ is teaching us to be truthful, to be honest, and to deal with one another with trust. Do not betray that trust.
One of the main hadith in this subject is when the Prophet ﷺ said:
لَا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِأَخِيهِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ
None of you truly believe until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. (Bukhari and Muslim)
Place yourself in the position of the buyer. You would not like being cheated. You would not like someone hiding defects. You would not like someone swearing that a product is excellent when later you discover it is not. You would not like someone claiming, with an oath, that this is the market price and then you later find out it was a lie. These actions destroy relationships. You would never buy from that person again. If you see him in the mosque, you may not even want to say salam to him because he is a cheat.
This is why the Prophet ﷺ prohibited cheating. He said in the famous hadith:
مَنْ غَشَّنَا فَلَيْسَ مِنَّا
Whoever cheats is not one of us.
Allah removes barakah from your rizq when you cheat. So what is the point? It becomes a lose-lose situation. You lose in the dunya and you lose in the akhirah. Be honest. Allah will place barakah in your earnings, even if they are small. The Prophet ﷺ said that the buyer and the seller, if they are truthful and give sincere advice, Allah will bless their sale and purchase. But if they conceal defects and behave dishonestly, Allah will remove the barakah from both sides. This is very clear.
The Prophet ﷺ is teaching us how to be people of dignity, honesty, truthfulness, and transparency. When you are upright, you can hold your head high. If you see the person you transacted with, you can greet him without shame. He will say, yes, this man was honest when he sold me that car, and he disclosed the defects and issues. He was truthful. I trust him. I want to buy from him again.
This is one scenario. The other is: I will never deal with that man again. He is cunning, dishonest, and has no dignity. If I see him, I will cross to the other side of the road. You choose which of the two you want to be.
If you meet such a person in the mosque, you may feel embarrassed. You may hide from him. But you choose your path. Sadly, some people are so rude and shameless. They cheat, they lie, they deceive, yet they face you arrogantly and say, I never did anything wrong. You are mistaken. Very strange behaviour. What can you even say? It is better to avoid such people. I have met people like this myself.
So the Prophet ﷺ teaches us to be people of dignity, honesty, and truthfulness. Remember that the Prophet ﷺ was a businessman. He worked in trade, in finance, in commerce. He dealt with customers. He travelled. He made profit. He was honest. People wanted to buy from him. Even Khadija hired the Prophet ﷺ to work in her business, and he multiplied her profits because of his honesty, his cheerful face, his excellent communication, his smile, his kindness, his integrity. People trusted him and wanted to trade with him.
Because of his barakah and his honesty, business increased. The same will happen with you. If you run a business with these principles, Allah will put barakah in it.
Our principles are not like hijab or clothing that we wear only during salah in the mosque and remove afterwards. Our principles are like our DNA, they circulate within us. The way we talk, walk, deal, and behave must be aligned with our principles. We do our best and leave the rest to Allah. Do not be greedy.
The Prophet ﷺ said this dunya is green, pleasant, attractive. Whoever approaches it with greed, Allah removes the barakah. Whoever approaches it with contentment, Allah grants barakah. He described the one who looks at dunya with a greedy eye as someone who eats but is never satisfied. He is like the one who eats and never becomes full.
Again, he is teaching us to be people of dignity, kindness, trustworthiness, and truthfulness.
Among the matters people take advantage of is when someone has no clue about the value of an item. He brings something to you and says, I want to sell this, and you are the expert. If you know that an item is worth one thousand pounds, and the person selling it has no clue whatsoever, do not take advantage of his ignorance. Some people will ask, how much do you think it is worth? And the seller, having no knowledge, might say, I do not know, maybe one hundred pounds. Then the buyer says, fine, here is one hundred pounds, while deep down he knows it is worth one thousand. This is cheating, and it is haram. You cannot do this. Do not do this.
This exact matter occurred with one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. He heard the Prophet ﷺ repeatedly emphasise the hadith that every Muslim must give sincere advice, obeying and listening to the ruler when he is a person of taqwa and goodness, and giving naseeha to every Muslim.
This companion once bought a horse from a man. He asked, do you sell this horse for two hundred? The seller said, yes, even though two hundred was already too much in his mind. He agreed. The companion then looked at the horse and said, do you sell it for four hundred? The man said, I have already sold it to you for two hundred. He replied, do you sell it for four hundred? The man said yes. Then he increased again: do you sell it for five hundred? Six hundred? Until he reached seven hundred. Each time the seller agreed. In the end he paid seven hundred.
Before departing, he said to the man: do not think I am a fool who paid much more than he was asked. No. I did this because the horse is actually worth seven hundred, and I promised the Prophet ﷺ to give sincere advice to every Muslim. I cannot buy it from you for two hundred while knowing its real value is seven hundred. This is your seven hundred.
This behaviour fills a person with inner strength, because he trusts Allah. Through honesty and truthfulness Allah increases your rizq, your reward, and even your customer base. It is a win-win situation.
Does Islam explicitly prohibit buying products made by desperate people, such as clothes produced in sweatshop conditions, with extremely low pay and long hours? Clothes should not be bought from shops on the boycott list and any company that abuses or mistreats workers should not be supported.
It falls under the general prohibition of oppression. Any form of oppression is haram. If a company gives wages far below the norm, exploiting workers who have no other options, this is oppression. Benefiting from that harm is prohibited. As mentioned earlier in the session, both individual harm and public harm are haram. In this case, an entire factory of people is exploited while the company earns millions from their suffering.
The next chapter, number four, is Ihsan fil Mu’amalah, excellence in transactions, which we will explore next session.
Based on the session delivered by Shaykh Haytham Tamim to the Convert Club on 25th November 2025