will buy for less than the market price. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Do not go out to meet incoming traders. Whoever meets them and buys from them—that is, from the incoming traders—then, when its owner—the seller—comes to the market, he has the option [to rescind].” (1) This is the option arising from unfair disparity in price.

Regarding his statement, “he has the option,” one might ask: The hadith is unrestricted: “he has the option”; it does not say, “if he has been overcharged.”

The answer is that it is to be understood according to what ordinarily and predominantly occurs. If the trader comes to the market and finds that he has not been overcharged, he will not rescind the sale, for there is no benefit in rescinding it and then selling again. Thus, the hadith is understood to apply when he has been overcharged, even though its apparent wording grants the option without restriction.

The second situation is his statement: “because of the increase made by an artificial bidder.” The preposition baʾ (“because of”) in the phrase “because of the increase” denotes causation; that is, because of the artificial bidder’s increase. An artificial bidder is one who raises the price of an item without intending to buy it; rather, he intends to harm the buyer, benefit the seller, or both.

For example, an item is put up for bidding and people begin outbidding one another. One of them raises the price, though he does not intend to purchase it, but does so to benefit the seller because he is his friend. He himself does not want the item. Or he may intend to harm the buyer because he is his enemy. Or he may seek a benefit for himself—for instance, he may possess a similar item and raise the price of this one so that the price of his own item will rise. Or he may want people to say, “So-and-so—what Allah has willed!—keeps raising the bid on an item,” implying that he possesses wealth and is a merchant.