political fragmentation and cultural diversity 269The book
Ibn Taymìya’s book on Œisbahcomprises ten chapters. These cover
the following topics (ibid.):
Basic principle of Œisbah
Ethical guidelines for regulating business and economic life
Collective good and the state’s responsibility
Price controls: some controversial aspects
Crime and punishment
Commanding good and forbidding evil
Strategy for reform
Men and movements
Society and leadership
Summing up on knowledge, justice, and the duties of the rulers
and the ruledThe first concern of Ibn Taymìya in his Œisbahwas, like those writ-
ing on Œisbahin general, the ethical issues in business. Like others
before and after him, he reiterated the Qur"ànic and Sunnah teach-
ings regarding the right weights and measurements and the role of
the Muœtasib in supervising these aspects of the market.
Emphasis was also given to the amount and quality of informa-
tion provided regarding both the product and the market. The pur-
pose is to prevent market imperfections caused by the intentional
concealment of information that may affect the parties’ decisions or
the deliberate provision of misinformation that would conceivable
affect the judgment of contractors. Contracts concluded on the basis
of the concealment of information that could have been provided,
or the injection of misinformation to affect the decision of either the
buyer or the seller, are regarded as invalid. The Muœtasib was to
endeavour to stop this side of market imperfections and to investi-
gate the claim made by either party to that effect. Included in these
market imperfections, for example, is the interception of goods before
reaching the market and the conclusion of a deal with the seller
before the latter knows the prevailing prices in the market. In this
example, the right of “option on reaching the market” has gener-
ally been established by the Prophet with a view to protecting the
harmed party, with minor conditions specified by jurists of different
schools of thought. Newcomers to the market are also protected and