460 S A L E. ■
It is abominable
to enhance
the
price o f mer-
chandife by
a fictitious^
tender o f a
high price3
Book XVI.
an ctpprehenjion of a femblance.— It is to be obferved that if a per-
fon claim a debt from another o f a thouland dirms, and obtain payment
of the fame, and both parties afterwards agree that the debt was
not due,— in that cafe the profit which the claimant may in the mean
time have acquired by poffeffion of the money is lawful to him; be-
caufe the bafenefs, in this inftance, is occafioned by invalidity of right;
for this reafon, that the debt had been owing in confequence of the
demand of the claimant, and the defendant’s acknowledgment' of i t ;
and it afterwards appears that this debt is not the right of the claimant,
but of the other, (namely, the defendant:) ftill, however, the thou-
fand dirms which the claimant took in fatisfaftion for his demand have
become his property, as the fatisfafiion for a claim becomes the property
of the claimant,, although it be under an invalid right;—rand as
the bafenefs, in this inftance, is occafioned by the mere invalidity of
right of property, and not by the abfolute non-exifence o i that right,
it confequently cannot operate, nor have any effeft with refpedl to a
thing of an indefmte nature, fuch as money, for inftance.
S E C T I O R
O f Sales and Purchases which æ« abominable.
T he prophet has prohibited the praftice of Najifh,— that is, the
enhancement of the price of goods, by making a tender for them,
without any intention to purchafe them, but merely to incite others
to the offer of a higher price. The prophet has alfo prohibited the
purchafe of a thing which has already been bargained for by another;
but this prohibition fuppofes that both parties had before come to a
v ‘mutual
C h a p . V . S A L E .
mutual agreement; for otherwife there is no impropriety in fuch
fubfequent purchafe»
T he prophet has alfo prohibited an anticipation of the market,— or, to antieir
v n c .1 't-U pate or fore- as where people meet the caravan, at a alliance from the city, witn ftauthe mar-
a view of purchaÇmg the grajn brought by the merchants, - in order to. ket :
fell it to the people of the cityr at an enhanced price. This prohibition,
however,'proceeds on a fuppofition that the foreftallers deceive
the merchants with refpedt to the price of grain in the city; for
otherwife there is no impropriety in this practice.
T he pro ph e t has alfo prohibited a citizen from felling for a or to enhance-
# r . . t h e price of
countryman-,— as where, for inftance, a countryman brings grain or grain, in
other goods into a city, and one erf the citizens takes paie of it, and fy[;ng
afts as his agent, in order that he may fell it at a high price to the forthe/«™.-;
people of the city.— Some have given a different explanation of this
prohibition, by fuppofing it to allude to a citizen s fellifig any thing at
a hivh price to a countryman: but in the FattahalKadeer of Moojtibba
Hat former is mentioned as the moft authentic explanation.-— It is to be
obferved, however, that this prohibition fuppofes that a fearcky
of o-rain prevails in the city, as otherwife fuch- conduâ is not improper.
It is abominable to boy or fell on a Friday * , after the cryer pro-
claims the hour of prayer, becaiife God has faid, in the Koran, da}.
“ W hen ye a r e c a l l e d to p r a y e r , on th e d a y of th e
H ASSEMBLY, hasten to th e com m ém o r a t io n of G O D , an d
“ lea v e merchandising.” . Moreover, if at fuch time purchafe
and fale were allowed, an abfolute duty (namely, attendance at
prayers) would ncceil. -iiy be omitted. It is to be obferved, however,
that although fuch purchafes and fales be abominable, ftill they are not
Friday is the Mujjidman Sabbath.
invalid ;