Hoarding/Black Marketeering (Ihtikar)

This entry examines the term ihtikar (hoarding/black marketing) and how Islam treats those who commit this act. Based on strong ethical precepts and considerations, Islamic economy and finance presents a rigid framework for the act of hoarding which is referred to as despicable and immoral. Scholars of Islamic jurisprudence pay great emphasis upon this issue and offer solutions to address potential repercussions of the act and to identify broad sanctions for the perpetrators. However, most of the approaches and legal opinions proposed by the scholars and jurists are relevant to old practices and there is now a pressing need for adaptation of these approaches to the present-time practices that may be viewed as a form of hoarding.