Does Your Business Have Allah's Blessing?
Truthfulness and Honesty in Business Transactions: Hadith on Sales and Baraka
Summary
This lecture analyzes a hadith from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim regarding sales transactions and truthfulness in business dealings. The instructor explains the ruling that buyer and seller have the option to reverse a sale as long as they remain in each other's company, and how this principle applies to different types of transactions based on their nature and market customs. The core teaching emphasizes that transparency and honesty in transactions bring blessing (baraka) from Allah, while concealment and lies remove blessing from business dealings.
The discussion connects this hadith to the broader Islamic principle that Muslims must be truthful and transparent in their commercial interactions. Examples are provided showing how sellers must disclose defects and market values, and how buyers must pay fair prices. The instructor contrasts Islamic business ethics with capitalist practices that exploit vulnerable customers through monopolies and price gouging, emphasizing that Islam prohibits such abusive behaviors whether by merchants or customers.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah. Continuing the chapter of truth and truthfulness authored by Al Farad Abu Zakaria said he saidch.
[Silence]
And this narration here collected by both bkari and Muslim on the authority of his. He narrates that the messenger of Allah. Wasam said that the two involved the two parties involved in a sales transaction have a choice to reverse or nullify the sales transaction as long as they do not leave one another's company. So we have the person selling, the person buying, they have this agreement. even if each even if each takes what is his, the merchant takes his pay, the customer takes his merchandise. As long as they do not leave one another's company, the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam here tells us that they still have the choice and the option to nullify or to go back on the sale if they think better of it. If they choose to reverse the sale, they have that right and they have that choice as long as they do not leave one another's company. And this here this concept of a transaction being completed once a person leaves the company of the person they are transacting with. This is something that other rulings in Islam are built upon. So I'll give you an example. Let's say a person says takes a vow a vow to do something. Person swears by Allah that they will fast tomorrow. Say I swear by Allah I will fast tomorrow. And then they go about their day. Later on they think better of it and they say inshallah that vow has now ended. Once that person has moved on to another sentence, to another thought, to another idea, to another issue, if they were to say that for instance they are going to fast tomorrow and then without interjecting with any other statement, with any other idea, with any other issue, with any other subject. And then they were to say inshallah this now has the ruling of it. When does it end? When does that window close? The window closes once another subject has been introduced. This here is the same concept and that is that as long as they are in one another's company which means they have not moved on to something else in their lives they still have the choice to reverse this transaction once they have moved on to something else and left one another's company. Now this transaction becomes completed. In another wording of this same narration, the prophet sallall.aii wasallam says he mentions three days. So how do we how do we harmonize that narration and this narration? In this narration, he's saying as long as they don't leave one another's company. In that narration, he's saying three days. Well, sales transactions are very different in their nature, aren't they? Some transactions are as simple as buying a stick of gum or buying some fruit, right? Whilst others are a little bit more serious and need a time allotted in order for that transaction to finalize due to the gravity of the transaction. If a person is buying a house, buying a car, buying something that is very expensive, then this is something that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam gave more time to. Is 3 days the maximum? No. This narration is speaking about that which does not have a norm in the market. But if we were to agree, let's say myself as a customer and one of you as the merchant that I tell you what we will make it a monthl long you have a month which many places do you have 30 days to return something then that is okay it doesn't go against this narration or the other why because this is a condition that we place on our sales transactions. It changes based on time and place and customs. So as the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam said in a.
[Silence]
That the believers are held to the conditions that they stipulate upon one another when they conduct any transaction except for a condition that makes halal what is otherwise haram or a condition what makes haram what is otherwise halal. Now why is this narration in this chapter? Because remember this chapter is about truthfulness. The shahit part of the narration or the part that is pertinent to this chapter is where he says Foreign.
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So here the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam says so if they both are transparent and truthful in their sale Allah will place bar in that sale in that transaction transparent meaning the seller is transparent if there's any defect or anything wrong with with what they're selling and also the buyer needs to be transparent an example the faukahhat give is let's say I come to buy something from someone who's unaware of the market value of what they're trying to sell. And so let's say it's a watch they're selling me and it's worth 200, but they're selling it for a hundred. But they don't know that it's worth more than that. If they know, that's their choice. But if they do not know that it's worth more than that for me to proceed with that and not tell them especially if they are Muslim but not only if they are Muslim this is considered this is considered haram and this will take away the blessing of my transaction. likewise He says, "And if they conceal and lie in their transaction, then the blessing of their transaction will be removed, will be stunted by Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala based on how much they lie and how much they conceal." The narrator of this hadith went to buy a horse from another companion and he bought the horse for a hundred me which is a lot of money at the time. However, once he left, he realized that it was worth a lot more than that. And he went back to him. And he went back to him a number of times until he had ended up more than quadrupling the amount that he initially gave him. Why? Because that is what he is seeking. He is seeking the bar from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He is not seeking to keep a dollar in his pocket that will taint the rest of his wealth and will be a cause for concern with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A dollar spared which has no baraka in it is a disaster. It is a punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A dollar spent with baraka is far superior than a dollar spared with without.
[Arabic recitation]
That.
[Arabic recitation]
Make it simple and they are trying to sell it for three or 400. This is not only a major sin but it is exactly the same that is said for the other way around that we mentioned which is Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala dispraised for what reason is because they would devour and because they would take people's wealth without right to do so. Any of these types of things is considered to be haram. And anything that is beyond reason and beyond market value to a point where it is excessive is haram. And when does this most introduce itself? When people are desperate, right? If I know you can only get it from me. And now I'm saying, well, you don't have to buy it, right? Well, no. You really actually do have to buy it, don't you? You do have to buy it. But this is where morality and capitalism in its most brutal form clash. And that is capitalism is hey listen, if I have the money and you don't, I make the rules. That's capitalism. in Islam, we don't have these kinds of concepts. The concepts are Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes the rules and I am neither allowed to abuse my customers nor as a customer am I allowed to abuse my merchant even if it's a big company even if it's a huge conglomerate and you know people people justify their behaviors in all kinds of ways for instance here in our country, how do people abuse one another? Merchants abuse customers by monopolizing a market, causing people to to forcing people's hand. Look at the health care system for instance. You buy 150 bucks for an aspirin. Why? Because we can. Because this is this is medical aspirin, right? You want some tissues. This is medical quality tissues. $30 a box. You want to stay in this bed here. This is, you know, if it were in a hotel room, it would be $200. Being that it's in this hospital, it's going to be $50,000 a night, right? Why? Because you have no other choice. But then they say, "Well, you don't have to come." Yeah, actually, you do have to come, right? So monopolizing and doing other schemes that we can get into at another time inshallah such as things that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam prohibited buying up all the stock and then hoarding it in order for the value to go up and then selling it. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam very much dis disavowed people who do this right but customers also abuse these merchants. I say well you know this is a really big company. They're not going to miss this or insurance fraud or any of these other things that people do because they're crooks. So, I'll get over on them if I can. Subhan Allah.
[Silence]
Subhanahu wa tala.