Islam discourages all forms of fraudulent practices including misrepresentation and wrong description of products. Islamic scholars have described these wrong and prohibited practices under the heads of tadlees, taghreer, ghaban, and khulaba.
Tadlees: It means misrepresentation. It is a situation where the seller of any product does not intentionally describe its correct quality. Obviously, such non-information about the correct quality of a product is intended to cover up any basic and relevant defect in the product; a defect if known to the buyer may affect his decision to purchase the product. Such non-description of the correct quality may fall in the category of jihl mufdhi ilanniza (lack of material information leading to dispute).
Taghreer: It means false description of goods. It is one step ahead in fraud than tadlees. Misleading or telling lies about any product is a bigger crime than not merely informing about any inherent defect in it. A number of Prophetic traditions have denounced this tendency of telling lies.
It was reported by Wasla bin Asqa’ (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) visited our group of businessmen and said: O businessmen! Desist from lies. [Recorded in Tabarani]
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: Surely businessmen are sinners. People asked the Prophet, O Apostle of Allah! Hasn’t Allah made a business lawful? The Prophet replied: Of course! But these people become sinners by swearing; and tell lies when they speak. [Recorded in Ahmad (428/4, 444), Hakim (6/2)]
One method adopted by sellers to impress upon buyers is excessive swearing. The blessed Prophet in a number of traditions has discouraged this method.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: Allah will not care for, nor talk to, nor purify three types of persons on the Day of Judgement, rather, Allah will punish them severally, one of whom would be one who sells (his wares) with false swearing. [Recorded in Muslim (number 154)]
Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: Allah will not care for three persons; aged sinner; proud beggar, and a person whom Allah has given goods (wealth) and he neither purchases without swearing nor sells without swearing. [Recorded in Tabarani]
Qatawa (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: Avoid excessive swearing in business as although it increases sales, it (ultimately) decreases blessings (barkah). [Recorded in Muslim (1608), Tabarani]
Ghaban: It literally means embezzlement, cheat, defraud, deceive, swindle and damage wrongly. But Islamic scholars use this term to mean excessive profiteering. Excessive profit is earned either owing to the lack of full information on the part of the buyer or on account of any bad positioning or inconvenience of the buyer. A buyer who is not aware of the market may believe that the price offered by the seller is the prevalent price in market. Alternatively, the buyer may be in dire need of the product and he may not be having the option of refusing the product at any cost. His inconvenience should not be made a source of profit by the seller. This is, undoubtedly, a swindling on the part of the seller.
Theoretically, a seller is free to fix price of his product and he should not be compelled to change it. The buyer is not compelled to purchase from a particular seller. The buyer may purchase from elsewhere if he is getting a better bargain. But can this free will of a seller to fix the price of his product be absolute. Has the state any authority to regulate prices? This has been debated fervently by Islamic scholars. At a stage when prices were going up the Blessed Prophet was asked to fix it but he declined to intervene in the price adjustment market forces.
Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that prices shoot up in Madinah and people said, ‘O Apostle of Allah! Prices are shooting up; kindly fix their prices for us. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) replied: Prices are determined by Allah and He makes things cheap or costly, He is the Sustainer, I want to meet Allah the exalted in such a condition that none of you may have a claim against me for any injustice done with regard to (anybody’s) blood or any property. [Recorded in Abu Daud (3451), Tirmidhi (1314), Ibn Maja (2200), Darmi (324/2), Ahmad (156/3)]
If we describe the content of the above Prophetic tradition in the current parlance, we may say that as prices are fixed by demand and supply of commodities in market, any interference in these natural forces amounts to injustice and state and other authorities should desist from price fixation as such.
The above Prophetic tradition is very emphatic and we know that the Blessed Prophet did not fix prices despite requests made by consumers. So many scholars opine that the state should never fix prices and the market mechanism should not be hindered. Several other scholars opine that at times the state may have to resort to price fixation in view of public benefit. The fiqh maxim which we have discussed earlier is the guiding factor. “The presence of a particular harm is accepted to ward off a general harm.” As society’s need take precedence to individual needs, harm to individuals or to lesser number of people will be accepted in order to prevent the harm to the general public.
Umar, the second Caliph (may Allah be pleased with him) once ordered one trader to either correct his price according to the market or leave the market. The state may intervene to regulate prices either in order to control any market damaging practice or when general public goods demand. In fact, in most of these cases the wrong practices of the sellers’ cartel or hoarders or other wrong doers disturb the natural supply and demand market mechanism and in such cases the authority concerned like the state has no option other than course-correction. Otherwise, free market practices take care of the healthy economy and prospering society.
Khulaba: It is a derivative of the word khalab which means to enchant, charm, fascinate, captivate, bewitch and coax. In fact, its basic meaning is to seize something with claws. This is the technique used to influence buyers, making them believe that they are purchasing the right products, which in fact may or may not be true. We may call it “sales-talk.” It covers both conversation and gestures which are used to attract buyers. The buyers become the prey and the seller preys the gullible ones!
An interesting story is related to this tendency on the part of the seller and the vulnerability of the purchaser. Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and said that he was always defrauded in (business) deals. As a simple man he believed what was said (to him) and later found it a fraud. The Prophet replied: While purchasing you should say ‘do not befool/defraud (me)’ (la khulaba). [Reported by Bukhari (2117), Muslim (1533), Abu Daud (3500), Nasai (4484), Baihaqi (273/5), Dar Qutni (54/3), Hakim (22/2)]
Some of the traditions have the additional words: “I shall have the option (of recalling the deal) for three days.” One scholar has opined that the tradition where this option is given is weak. [Fiqhul Hadees; Hafiz Imran Ayyub Lahori; Al-Kitab International; April, 2005; New Delhi; Page 305]
However, many other strong Prophetic traditions have given this right of recall to the buyer.
[waquaranwar@yahoo.com]