Islam Prohibits the Hoarding of Goods

Fuel gauge illustration and bags of food

The Macmillan Advanced Learners dictionary defines ‘hoarding’ thus: to get and keep a large amount of something because it might be valuable or useful later.

Muslim scholars talk about hoarding of goods in two categories. The first category is- hoarding goods for the sake of preservation (to avoid waste). This category of hoarding is permissible and even encouraged in Islam.

The second category involves hoarding items that people need to survive in order to create artificial scarcity in the market which now creates the opportunity for hoarders to hike the prices of these goods. This second category of hoarding is what Islam has declared haram (sinful) and must be avoided.

Virtually all goods in the market are hoarded at one period or point in time giving hoarders the free hand to profiteer. Food items are the most hoarded of commodities. Many whole-sellers have little concern for the plight of the masses; the only important thing for them is the fatness of their bank accounts.

Engineering the artificial scarcity of goods is a very acceptable practice in capitalist economies, as a matter of fact; it is the main essence of capitalism.

In Nigeria, the prices of some food items in villages and markets vary by as high as 150 units. Despite the large farming population and bumper harvests, a great percentage of the population squeeze out their pockets to feed by the virtue of the outrageous food prices orchestrated by hoarders.

Another group of commodities hoarders prey on is the petroleum products: kerosene, diesel and petrol. The hoarding of these products in any community bites poisonously. The cost of transportation skyrockets, food prices jump and the general standard of living of the community falls drastically.

How has Islam made hoarding of goods a crime? Simple, statements of Muhammad (SAW) and verses of the Qur’an have legislated this.

Ma'mar b. Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (SAW) as saying: “No one hoards but the sinner”.

Another point showing how evil hoarding is in Islam is the statement of ALLAH (SWT) in the Glorious Qur’an about those who hoard: On that day, it (that hoarded wealth) will be heated in the fire of Hell and, therewith, their foreheads and their sides and their backs will be branded (and they will hear): "This is the treasure which you hoarded up for yourselves; taste now what you were busy hoarding!" Suratul Tawba (9:35)

'Branded' as used in the above verse refers to the smearing of the heated hoarded wealth on the skins of the hoarders.
In Islam, people who hoard goods from the masses are condemned to HELL. Some Islamic scholars are of the opinion that if hoarding by anyone causes severe suffering in the community, the hoarder is liable for execution.

Other statements linked to Muhammad (SAW) on the hoarding of goods are as follows:

Muhammad (SAW) said that one who hoards food items for forty days in anticipation of rise in their prices has distanced himself from Allah and Allah tires of him and breaks off connection with him.

Muhammad (SAW) also said that if a person buys food items and hoards them for forty days so that prices rise in the Muslim markets, he has committed such a serious sin that if he were to later sell all the hoarded material and donate all the income it will not expiate for his sin.

And ALLAH knows best.