Al Sufian

iconSufa 114 - The Trade (Al-Tijaara)

1O you who believe! Let it be said: Al-Karim;
2The Bountiful, the Generous;
3And the eighty-third name of Allah, the Infinite, the Unique, the All Knowing.
4Wealth, properly employed, is a blessing,
5And a man may lawfully endeavor to increase it by honest means.
6To trade with neighbors is to increase prosperity providing it be without corruption.
7Therefore beware of dishonest merchants and the spell of foreign wares,
8Lest the local providers suffer through changing fate.
9Let is be said that the prosperity of the people is first they be self sufficient in food and knowledge;
10That they may acquire in modesty that which may give lasting value.
11Beware! Beware!
12The Persians seeks not the educated custom, nor prosperity, but to beguile and spell;
13To sell exotic wares and finery that satisfy no more than morning dew.
14They convince the leader and warlord to banish the artisan and crafts people on false pretense;
15That they may possess a monopoly and control the destiny of a land through coin.
16Verily, Monopoly is unlawful and a grave transgression in Islam.
17It be a solemn obligation of all Muslims that those who grant a monopoly,
18And those who seek it or control it be captured and executed.
19Truly, once a merchant gain a monopoly, he is handed the fate of the people.
20One who controls the grain to a city may sell it cheaply, ruining his competitor.
21Or the merchant may choose to hold back the grain, causing the price to rise.
22Thus the crafty merchant granted control, extends his influence through artificial drought and flood,
23To manipulate the fate of the people.
24Therefore, do not permit a merchant a monopoly;
25Nor the actions of dishonest merchants to ruin the marketplace.
26Enforce strictness in trade that only that which may be delivered within a season or a cycle of the moon be agreed and empty promises forbidden.
27Nor should merchants be permitted to charge interest upon their loans, lest they use such temptations to ruin.