252 chapter six
makes the return to the life-after his sole object of life and remains
busy in earning his livelihood, and (c) the third kind of men is near
the middle path who keeps his goal of returning to the next world
as fixed and takes to trade and commerce for a livelihood”. By impli-
cation, the second type is most favoured. Also, in what al-Ghazàlì
said was a criticism of the flùfìwho went to the extreme by refrain-
ing from work, devoting all of their time to worship and relying on
charity for living. Earning a livelihood is therefore a duty.
In his chapter on earnings, trade and commerce al-Ghazàlìelu-
cidated various points covering lawful earnings, justice, kindness and
fear of religion. He divided these topics further and examined each
in detail. For example, the lawful earnings section is divided into
bargaining in buying and selling, trade through credit, taking advance
payment, to work for wages and to accept rentals, to do business
with others by advancing capital, and joint business in fixing shares.
It is compulsory in his view that the Sharì"ah rules in these matters
are learned. Moreover, he divided the above topics further and dis-
cussed them in more detail. For example, on bargaining in buying
and selling, he looked into the position of the parties in the contract,
the buyer and seller, the commodities for sale, and the contract.
Linking the conditions of the market with the concept of justice,
al-Ghazàlì condemned bad market practice and regarded that as
violating the concept of fair trade. Bad market practice leads to two
types of loss: loss to the public at large, and loss to a group of indi-
viduals. Hoarding foodstuffs with the aim of artificially enhancing
prices causes harm to the public at large and therefore is condemned.
The Sharì"ah condemns hoarding. Al-Ghazàlìhowever took the issue
further and argued that while hoarding foodstuffs is condemned, and
indeed cursed in the Sharì"ah, hoarding articles that are not prin-
cipal foodstuff, such as Za"afran, etc., is not prohibited. Delaying
making the articles available for sale in the market may also be
regarded as prohibited if this leads to suffering by the public. The
legality or illegality of hoarding, therefore, depended in the mind of
al-Ghazàlìupon the harm caused to the public. This seems to be a
compromising view coming from a flùfì, however. But al-Ghazàlì
was perhaps more concerned with the concept of justice in the mar-
ket conditions, which, to him, should be extended to both the buyer
and the seller. Other conditions of fair trade were also discussed by
al-Ghazàlì, such as accurate measurement and weight, not conceal-
ing information from the public and not giving wrong information
about the subject of sale. The ultimate purpose of the al-Ghazàlì’s