On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (RadhiyaAllahu ‘anhu) who said: The Messenger of Allah (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said,
“Do not envy one another, and do not inflate prices for one another, and do not hate one another, and do not turn away from one another, and do not undercut one another in trade, but [rather] be slaves of Allah and brothers [amongst yourselves]. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor does he fail him, nor does he lie to him, nor does he hold him in contempt. Taqwa (piety) is right here [and he pointed to his chest three times]. It is evil enough for a man to despise his Muslim brother. The whole of a Muslim is inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honour.”
[Reported by Muslim]
Brief Commentary
- نجش is to artificially increase the price of a product, e.g. you want to buy something for £100, then someone offers £120 (without intending to buy it), so you have to pay more. It can be done to benefit the seller, or harm the buyer, or for both reasons
- Hate is what the shaytan tries to put between the believers as mentioned in Surah Al-Mai’dah [5:91]
- When it comes to deviants, we don’t hate them in totality, as by that we are hating in them what Allah loves, rather we hate the deviancy in them and love all the good in them
- When Ibn Uthaymeen used to speak about deviants, he never used foul words or smirked at them. He just used to warn the people of their deviancy
- Turning your backs to one another is similar to something known as hajr (boycott)
- The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) used said, “It is not permissible for a Muslim to boycott his brother for more than three days, they meet and each one of them turns away from the other. The best of them is the one who starts the salam (greeting)” (Reported in Bukhari & Muslim)
- The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is giving practical advice by saying that the best of them is the one who initiates the salam even he is in the right
- The prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “Whoever boycotts his brother for a year, then it is like spilling his blood” (Reported in Abu Dawud)
- The above ahadith are with regards to boycott due to worldly matters
- Boycott due to religious matters is a praiseworthy action and is carried out against sinners and innovators to try and push them to turn back to Allah
- Boycott due to religious matters has no time limit and can be indefinite, but it is only done for the reason of benefit, and the scholars decide it for us
- Undercutting in trade is something that is warned against by the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) even against the disbelievers
- There are other narrations which state to not under cut your brother, but maybe Imam Al-Nawawi put this narration in his collection because he wanted us to know that the ruling applies to disbelievers too
- Undercutting examples:
- A sells B something for £60, then C tells B he would sell the same thing for £50
- A sells B something for £100, then C says he would buy it for £120, so A asks for it back
- Undercutting the disbelievers has many ill-effects which include:
- Not trusting the Muslims
- Bad treatment for the Muslims
- Muslims building a bad image for themselves
- Bad da’wah given out to the non-Muslims
- “be slaves of Allah and brothers” may have been included to indicate that leaving these traits leads to brotherhood
Benefits and Action points:
- Do not artificially increase the price of products
- When hating someone for the sake of Allah, only hate their deviancy and love all the good in them
- Never boycott a believer for the sake of a worldly matter for over than 3 days
- Understand that boycotting deviants is done if it brings a benefit and is decided by the scholars
- If you have a dispute with a brother, then be the better person by initiating the salam when you meet
- Do not undercut believers and disbelievers in trade
Hadith Commentary 