Hoarding in Islamic Jurisprudence and 'Alawi's Conduct; A Survey of the Dominant Doctrine about the Area of Cases of Hoarding

Hoarding means to save foodstuffs or to buy and avoid selling in the intention of increasing the price. Although the jurists agree on the preference of hoarding, they disagree on its defining law. The majority of the jurists agree that it is unlawful. However, a number of jurists hold that it is abominable. Of course, the sound view is the dominant doctrine, because the narrations on cursing and punishing the hoarders on the one hand, and paralleling them with thieves and drinkers on the other hand are not in any way consistent with abomination. Although the dominant doctrine among the jurists based on the contents of Sakouni,s tradition restricts hoarding to six items including wheat, barley, date, curry, vegetable oil and olive oil, it seems that the words should not be restricted and a broader scope of hoarding should be considered. Since according to Imam 'Ali,s  Covenant to Malik Ashtar in which hurting others is expressed as the criterion of hoarding as well as the no-harm rule hoarding cannot be restricted only to these items, but it also includes other needed non-food items.