A Reassessment of the Ruling and Scope of Hoarding from the Perspective of Criminal Justice

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hossein Farzaneh

Seyed Ja’far Alavi Gonabadi

Seyed Ali Sajjadizadeh

Assistant Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Law, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2024.85523.1698

Abstract

Hoarding (iḥtikār) is a religious prohibition (ḥarām-i sharʿī) according to the majority of jurists. Also, from a legal perspective, it is considered as a discretionary offense (jurm-i taʿzīrī), for which punishments such as imprisonment, flogging, confiscation of property, and, in certain exceptional circumstances, even execution as corruption on earth (ifsāi fī al-arż) have been issued. The ruling and scope of hoarding are some of the disputed issues among jurispudence scholars. Prohibition (ḥurmat) and reprehensibility (kirāhat) are two normative characterizations traceable in jurisprudential works. With respect to its scope, some jurists have limited unlawful hoarding to certain foodstuffs, whereas others have extended it to all types of food and even broader human needs and necessities. The present study seeks to reassess the evidences of hoarding from the perspective of criminal justice and to judge the views on this basis. The findings indicate that taking into account standards of criminal justice (such as the principle of proportionality between crime and punishment) in analyzing the relevant texts strengthens the theory supporting the prohibition of hoarding. Regarding its scope, justice functions as a contextual indicator that establishes interpretive approaches that treat the narrations of exclusivity as illustrative (tamsīl), governmental (ḥukūmī), or context-specific (khārijiyyah) by reinforcing the apparent meaning of general proofs and thereby reinforce the theory of generalization.

Keywords

hoarding (iḥtikār)

justice

discretionary crime (jurm-i taʿzīrī)

proportionality of crime and punishment

Subjects

• Criminal jurisprudence

---

References

Qurān-i Karīm

 ʿIrāqī, Żīyāʾ al-Dīn. Nihāya al-Afkār. Qum: Jāmiʿah al-Mudarrisīn fī al-Ḥawzah al-ʻIlmīyah bi-Qum, Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1996/1417.

ʻAbbāsī, Muṣṭafā." ʻAdālat Tarmīmī, Dīdgāh Nuvīn ʿAdālat Kayfarī". Faṣlnāmah-yi Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī, Durih-yi 5. No. 9 (2003/1382): 85-128.

Abū al-Ṣalāḥ Ḥalabī, Taqī ibn Najm. al-Kāfī fī al-Fiqh. Isfahān: Maktaba al-Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī (AS) al-ʿĀmah, 1983/1403.

Ākhūnd Khurāsānī, Muḥammad Kāẓim ibn Ḥusayn. Durar al-Fawāʾid fī al-Ḥāsīyah ʻalā al-Farāʾid. Tehran: Vizārat al-Thaqāfa wa al-Irshād al-Islāmī, 1990/1410.

ʿAlīdūst, Abū al-Qāsim. Fiqh va Maṣliḥat. Tehran: Sāzimān-i Intishārāt-i Pazhūhishgāh Farhang va Andīshih-yi  Islāmī., 2017/1395.

ʻAlīyān, ʻĪsā, Muḥammad Fākir Miybudī. "Tanāsub Jurm va Mujāzāt bar Asās Āyāt Qiṣāṣ". Muṭāliʻāt-i Tafsīrī, yr. 9, no. 36 (2019/1397): 29-46.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Mukhtalif al-Shīʿa fī al-Aḥkām al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Mūʾassisah-yi Nashr Islāmī, 1993/1413.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām fī Maʿrifa al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Mūʾassisah Nashr Islāmī, 1993/1413.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Tadhkara al-Fuqahāʾ. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS) Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 1994/1414.

Baḥrānī, Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad. al-Ḥadāʾiq al-Nāḍira fī Aḥkām al-ʿItra Ṭāḥira. Qum:  Mūʾassisah Nashr Islāmī, 1985/1405.

Biygī, Jamāl, Amīr Ṭāhir Yūsuf. "Tanāsub Jurm va Mujāzāt dar Sīyāsat Jināyī Irān bā  Rūykard Āmūzih-hā-yi Tawzīʿ Kiyfar". Ḥuqūq Milal. no. 6 (2017/1395): 225-248.

Dānishpazhūh, Muṣṭafā, Qudrat Allāh Khusrūshāhī. Falsafah Ḥuqūq. Qum: Mūʾassisah-yi Āmūzish va Pazhūhīsh Imām Khumaynī, 2005/1384.   

Fakhr  al-Muḥaqiqīn, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Īḍāḥ al-Fawāʾid fī Sharḥ Ishkālāt al-Qawāʿid. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān, 1967/1387.

Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. al-ʻAyn. Qum: Dār al-Hijrat, 1989/1409.

Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr fī  Gharīb al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr li-l-Rāfiʻī. Qum: Dār al-Hijrah, 1994/1414.

Fletcher,Georg P. Mafāhīm Bunyādīn Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī. translated by Sayyid Mahdī Sayyidzādih thānī. Mashhad: Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, 2006/1384.

Ḥabībzādih, Muḥammad Jaʻfar, Hānīyih Huzhabr al-Sādātī. "Adālat Ijtimāʻī va Adālat Kayfarī; Judāyī yā Piyvand". Faṣlnāmah -yi Ḥuqūq Kayfarī. Durih-yi 11, no. 8 (2015/1393): 25-54.

Ḥurr ʻĀmilī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Tafṣīl Wasāʾil al-Shīʻa ilā  Taḥṣīl Masāʾil al-Sharīʻa. Beirut: Āl al-Bayt (AS) li-Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 1992/1412.

Ḥusaynī ʻĀmulī, Muḥammad Javād ibn Muḥammad. Miftāḥ al-Karāmah fī Sharḥ Qawāʿid ʿAllāma. Qum: Jāmiʿah al-Mudarrisīn fī Ḥawzah al-ʻIlmīyyah, 1998/1419.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. Kitāb Man Lā Yaḥḍuruh al-Faqīh. Qum: Mūʾassisah Nashr  Islāmī, 1984/1404.

Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad ibn Fāris. Muʿjam  Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Qum: Maktab al-Iʿlām al-Islāmī, 1984/1404.

Ibn Ḥayyūn, Nuʿmān ibn Muḥammad. Daʿāʾim al-Islām wa Dhikr al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām wa al-Qaḍāyā wa al-Aḥkām. Qum: Dār al-Maʿārif, Āl al-Bayt(AS) Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 2007/1385.

Ibn Idrīs, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. al-Sarāʾir al- Ḥāwī li-Taḥrīr al-Fatāwī. Qum: Mūʾassisa Nashr Islāmī. 1990/1410.

Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. Chāp-i Sivum, 1993/1414.

Ibn Zuhrah, Ḥamza ibn ʿAlī. Ghunya al-Nuzūʿ ilā ʻIlmī al-Uṣūl wa al-Furūʿ. Qum: Imām Ṣādiq (AS). 1996/1417.

Ibrāḥīmpūr Layālistānī, Ḥusayn. Ahdāf va Mabānī Mujāzāt dar Dū Rūykard Ḥuqūq Jazā va Āmūzih-hā-yi Dīnī. Qun: Būstān Kitāb, Daftar-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī Ḥawzah-yi ʻIlmīyah, 2009/1387.

Isfahānī, Abū al-Ḥasan. al-Wasīlah al-Najāt  maʿa Ḥawāshī al-Imām al-Khumaynī. Qum: Mūʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āsār-i Imām Khumaynī, 2001/1422.

Jawharī, Ismāʻīl  ibn Ḥammād. al-Ṣiḥāḥ Tāj al-Lugha wa Ṣiḥāḥ ʿArabīya. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm li-l-Malāyīn, Chāp-i Awwal, 1989/1410.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Mabānī Takmilat al-Minhāj. Qum: Mūʾassisa Āsār-i  Imām Khūʾī, 2001/1422.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Mawsūʿat al-Imām al-Khūʾī. Qum: Mūʾassisa Iḥyāʾ Āsār al-Imām al-Khūʾī, 1997/1418.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Miṣbāḥ al-Faqāhah. bi Taqrīr Muḥammad ʿAlī Tawḥīdī, Qum: Anṣārīyān, 1996/1417.

Khumaynī, Rūḥ Allāḥ. Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah. Qum: Dār al-ʻIlm, s.d.

Kulīnī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1987/1407.

Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī. Marʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Al al-Rasūl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1995/1415.

Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. al-Fatāwā al-Jadīda. Qum: Madrisah-yi Imām ʿAlī (AS), Chāp-i Duwwum, 2007/1385.

Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i  Numūnah. Qum: Madrisah-yi Imām ʿAlī ibn Abī  Ṭālib (AS), 2015/1393.

Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. al-Muqniʿa. Qum: Kungirah-yi Jahānī Shaykh Mufīd, 1993/1413.

Mughnīyah, Muḥammad Javād. Fiqh al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (AS). Qum: Anṣārīyān, 1960/1379.

Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Muṣṭafā. Taḥlīl va Barrisī Iḥtikār az Naẓargāh  Fiqh Islām. Qum: Andīshih-hā-yi Nū dar ʻUlūm Islāmī, 1984/1362.

Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī. Jaʻfar ibn Ḥasan. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī Masāʾil al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān, Chāp-i Duwwum, 1988/1408.

Muntaẓirī, Ḥusayn ʿAlī. Mabānī Fiqhī Ḥukumat Islāmī. translated by Maḥmūd Ṣalavātī va  Abū al-Fażl Shakūrī, s.l. Kiyhān, 1989/1409.

Muntaẓirī. Ḥusayn ʿAlī. Dirāsāt fī Walāya al-Fiqhīya wa Fiqh al-Dawla al-Islāmīyya. Qum: Markaz al-ʿĀlamī  li-l-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīyya, 1989/1409.

Muẓaffar, Muḥammad Riḍā. Uṣūl  al-Fiqh. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān, 1997/1375.

Narāqī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Mahdī. Mustanad al-Shīʻa fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS) li-Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 1995/1415.

Nūrī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Taqī. Mustadrak al-Wasāʾil wa Mustanbaṭ al-Masāʾil. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS), 1988/1408.

Rūḥānī, Muḥammad Ṣādiq. Minhāj al-Faqāha. Qum: Anwār al-Hudā. 2008/1429.

Sabzavārīnizhād, Ḥujat. "Jāygāh Aṣl Tanāsub Jurm va Mujāzāt dar Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī Irān va Ingilistān". Dīdgāh-hā-yi Ḥuqūq Qaḍāyī, no. 77 (Farvardīn 2018/1396): 133-164.

Ṣāḥib Jawāhir, Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Bāqir. Jawāhir al-Kalām fī Sharḥ Sharāyʿ al-Islām.  Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī, 1984/1404.

Shahīd Awwal, Muḥammad ibn Makkī. al-Durūs al-Sharʿīyah fī Fiqh al-Imāmīya. Qum: Mūʾassisah Nashr Islāmī, 1996/1417.

Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī.  al-Rawḍa al-Bahīya fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿa al-Dimashqīya. Qum: Jāmiʿah al-Najaf al-Dīnīya, Maktaba al-Dāwarī, 1990/1410.

Sharīf al-Raḍī, Muḥammad  ibn Ḥusayn.  Nahj al-Balāghah. Qum: Nahj al-Balāghah, 1993/1414.

Sīstānī, ʿAlī. Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn. Qum: Maktaba Āyat Allāh al-ʿUẓmā al-Sayyid al-Sīstānī, 1995/1415.

Ṭabarsī. Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. Majmaʻ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusrū, 1994/1372.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: al-Aʻlamī, 2016/1394.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Nihāya fī Mujarrad al-Fiqh wa al-Fatāwā. Beirut:  Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, 1980/1400.

Waḥīd Khurāsānī, Ḥusayn. Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn. S.l. s.n. s.d.

Zabīdī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Murtaḍā. Tāj al-ʿArūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. 1993/1414.

Zirāʿat, Muḥadisih. "Żimānat Ijrāyī Kayfarī Naqż Uṣūl Qānūn-i Asāsī". Pazhūhishnāmah-yi Ḥuqūq Kayfarī, yr. 12, no. 23 (2022/1400): 53-74.