Hoarding, and the Trust Betrayed

Iḥtikār, hoarding, is buying up a commodity — sugar, say — in advance of a shortage known to be coming, storing it in a depot, a warehouse, and then, when the shortage hits and the ordinary price of two dollars a kilo becomes twenty because everybody is searching for it, selling at that inflated price. This is not profit; it is iḥtikār, and it is absolutely ḥarām on any basic commodity the Muslim community depends upon.

Khiyānah, mentioned already, also takes the form of a trust betrayed: a person going overseas leaves his property, his house, its title and everything else, in another's keeping, asking only that it be looked after until his return, in shāʾ Allāh; or leaves his car with someone before travelling. On his return, the one entrusted denies everything — never gave you a car, he says, there is no witness, nobody saw it; what house, get lost, what are you talking about. This is khiyānah, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) names betraying a trust among the signs of the greatest hypocrite; this is not allowed, and it is ḥarām.