Tas'ir (Price Control) in Islamic Law

Abstract

The market (suq or Bazar)has a distinctive place in the history of
Islamic civilization. Makkah and MadInah were major trade centers at the
time of the advent of Islam, and the prophet was himself an active market
participant and reformer. There were famous markets-'Ukkaz, Majannah,
and Dhu al Majaz- in pre-Islamic Arabia that commonly held fairs
during the pilgrimage season. This practice was conhued after the appearance
of Islam, for when the new Muslims felt that it might be sinful
for them to trade in such places (al Zubayli 1984), the following verse
was revealed: "There is no sin if you seek the bounty of your Lotd
(during the pilgrimage)" (Qur'an 2:198).
The main theme here is religious: allaying the fear of indulging in
sin. However, it is Significant that this potentially sinful activity was ref
e d to in such dignified term as "seeking the bounty of your Lotd."
Elsewhere in the Qur'an, we find passages dealing withthe market's cultural
Elspects, such as the verse that asks whether it is proper for the Prophet
to mingle with the common people in the market place. The answer
received was that prophets, just like everybody else, ate free to interact
and engage in commercial tnmsactions in the mark& "And they say:
What sort of a messenger is this, who eats food and walk- through the
streets? Why has not an angel been sent down to him to be a Warner with
him?" (Qur'an 257) and "And the Messengers whom We sent before you
were all (men) who ate food and walked through the streets" (Quran
25:20). The second citation refers to market activity in a mainly econofnic
and historical context, one that highlights the market's role in providing
foodstuffs and the fact that all prophets mixed with their people on the
basis of equality. In other words, they were ordinary men whose spiritual
value was not compromised by engaging in market activities.
These verses characterize Islam’s worldview in gened and its view
of the market’s diverse nature in particular. Islam reaffirms its holistic approach
to life and informs us that the market is an arena for the combined
interplay of culture, religion, economics, and history. This was partly due,
perhaps, to the Prophet’s own commercial experience and acumen, which
he put to good use as his future wife’s (Khadijah) trusted agent and that
led eventually to the reform of Arabian commercial practices. These reforms
sought to purify the market of practices that differed from Islamic
ideals of fair play, honesty, and justice. In many ways, a market is like
an open theater, for it displays the unfolding of a portion of a civilization’s
best achievements as well as its worst weaknesses and pitfalls.
One frequent issue is the need to recognize the free market principle:
the goveming of trade solely by the natural interplay of the economic
forces of supply and demand. Only in such a market, it is argued, is one
urged to strive and compete with his/her peers in pursuit of better
products or services. No market can exist without a profit motive, and the
right to make a profit must never be eliminated. Thus a market regulator
must be concerned with asceltaining that legitimate profit does not exceed
the limits of fair gain and that an individual’s greed and desire for profit
are controlled. The intention is to ensure that skilled market operators do
not take advantage of an unsuspecting customer’s ignorance and naivety.
Broadly speaking, one may say that this was the main goal of the
new Islamic rules introduced into the Arabian market’s economic life. No
law dealing with the quantitative limits of profit was promulgated, for
profit is the result of supply and demand and so is not a concern of the
law. The law’s role is limited to ensuring the market’s morality, as well
as the propriety and fairness of its participants and their activities (i.e.,
prohibiting fraud and misrepresentation), and implementing precautionary
measures to prevent or rectify unfair trading practices ...