notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Peace be upon you, dear teacher.
ربح المؤمن على المومن ربا.
Since not charging customers a profit seems at odds with the primary purpose of trade, what should trade look like in a community of believers?
In a community of believers, trade should be grounded in forbearance and goodwill. It is not permissible to seek profit at another believer’s expense, especially when they are buying only what they need. This principle will reach its full expression in the age of the Appearance. A hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (AS) states that a believer’s profit from another believer is usury, except in certain cases—for instance, when the purchase exceeds one hundred dirhams or is made for trade. Even then, transactions should be conducted with kindness and forbearance.
If we consider believers trading with one another in an Islamic society without taking any profit from each other, no believer would be harmed; indeed, they would be better off. Each would meet their needs through another believer, and reciprocal trade without profit would meet everyone’s needs as fully as possible, because the foremost purpose of trade is to meet people’s needs.
A point of great importance is the role of the Exalted Lord in bestowing His grace and blessings upon believers, enabling them to attain greater profit.
Faith—faith in its true sense—is therefore the condition for this kind of transaction. Every believer is a source of divine goodness and blessing for another. If the light of faith truly ruled the hearts of believers, divine blessings would pour down upon them from heaven and spring up from the earth. In that case, there would be no need for them to seek profit from one another.
Faith will be fully manifested at the time of the appearance of حضرت قائم صلوات الله علیه, when this principle will truly be put into practice.
In this age, the more deeply a trading partner is rooted in faith, the less profit one should take from them.
Today, we should distinguish between taking profit from a believer to meet their needs and trade between believers: that is, we should distinguish between transactions undertaken to meet needs and those carried out for commercial purposes.
In the present age, believers should trade with one another in a spirit of sufficiency, fellowship, and forbearance.
‼ These hadiths guide us more clearly to the heart of the matter:
عن أبی عبد الله ع قال: ربح المؤمن على المؤمن ربا إلا أن یشتری بأکثر من مائه درهم فاربح علیه قوت یومک أو یشتریه للتجاره فاربحوا علیهم و ارفقوا بهم.
الکافی (ط - الإسلامیه)، ج5، ص: 154
Abu Shibl reports from Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, who said: “A believer’s profit from another believer is usury—unless someone makes a purchase of more than one hundred dirhams; in that case, they may take from him no more than the cost of one day’s food. Or, if someone buys for the purpose of trade, then take profit from them, but treat them with kindness and forbearance.”
عن علی بن سالم عن أبیه قال سألت أبا عبد الله ع عن الخبر الذی روی أن من کان بالرهن أوثق منه بأخیه المؤمن فأنا منه بریء فقال ذلک إذا ظهر الحق و قام قائمنا أهل البیت قلت فالخبر الذی روی أن ربح المؤمن على المؤمن ربا ما هو قال ذاک إذا ظهر الحق و قام قائمنا أهل البیت و أما الیوم فلا بأس بأن یبیع من الأخ المؤمن و یربح علیه.
من لا یحضره الفقیه، ج3، ص: 313
Ali ibn Salim relates from his father, who said: I asked Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, about the report that says, “I disavow anyone who trusts pledged property more than his believing brother.” Is it authentic, and what does it mean? He replied: “That will be when the truth becomes manifest and our Ahl al-Bayt’s Qa’im rises.” I then asked about the report that says a believer’s profit from another believer is usury. What does that mean? He replied: “That too will be when the truth prevails and our Ahl al-Bayt’s Qa’im rises. But today there is no harm in a believer selling something to his believing brother and making a profit from him.”
‼ A dirham was a silver coin used as currency among Muslims from the early Islamic period until the beginning of the fourteenth century AH. In legal and jurisprudential usage, its weight is six daniqs. Since each daniq is equivalent to eight average barley grains, a dirham weighs the same as forty-eight barley grains. On this reckoning, a dirham weighs less than a legal mithqal, and one legal mithqal is equal to one dirham and three-sevenths of a dirham. Thus, seven legal mithqals are equal to ten dirhams.