(MENAFN - Arab News) Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has asked merchants not be greedy, saying profits of them exceed 100 percent.
In his Friday sermon at Imam Turki bin Abdulaziz Mosque in Riyadh, he asked all merchants to distance themselves from fraud, cheating or manipulation of prices, saying Shariah (Islamic law) prohibits such behavior. Some merchants deliberately import goods of poor quality and then sell them with a high profit margin without any fear of God.
The grand mufti urged merchants to be honest in their dealings with people, demanding at the same time that names of shops and markets be in the Arabic language for the sake of preserving the original language of the Holy Qur'an.
He expressed his fears about the amount of fast food restaurants mushrooming in the Kingdom. To prevent health issues, these restaurants require oversight, especially of the food ingredients they use.
He said that some diseases that break out from time to time in the Kingdom might be the result of such food. "Selling expired food is prohibited by Shariah, but still we read in the media about the detection of expired meat and other food products," he added.
Fraud is not an attribute of a Muslim, the grand mufti said, citing the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Whoever deceives us, is not one of us."
The grand mufti called on merchants to be honest in dealings with consumers. "Both parties in a business transaction have the right to annul it so long as they have not separated. If they speak the truth and make everything clear they will be blessed in their transaction. But if they tell a lie and conceal anything the blessing on their transaction will be blotted out," he said, quoting the Prophet (pbuh) as saying while asking merchants to avoid cheating and fraud and speaking falsely in the name of God.
The sermon of the grand mufti complemented sermons on previous Fridays that were dedicated to the discussion of issues on the civilized and polite behavior of community members.
