Likewise, every person who purchases something with the intention of reselling it for profit is liable for the traders’ zakat—whether he does any further work on it or not, whether the goods are foodstuffs, clothing, or livestock, whether he is a travelling merchant moving merchandise from one land to another, an investor who stores it until the market is favorable, or a shopkeeper who is constantly buying and selling. All of them must pay the zakat of commerce.

If circumstances require them to mill flour and bake bread because people need it, they may be compelled to do so, as noted earlier; or they may undertake the task voluntarily, without any one individual being forced in particular. In either case the authorities should set a price for flour and wheat so that they sell only at the going rate, earning a customary, reasonable profit without harming themselves or the public.

The scholars have differed about price fixing in two matters:1

1. When the prevailing market price is already high and someone wishes to sell for even more, the Malikī school holds that he is to be prevented from doing so in the marketplace, and they have two opinions on whether under-pricing should likewise be prevented. Al-Shāfiʿī and the Hanbalīs—such as Abū Ḥafṣ al-ʿUkbarī, al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā, al-Sharīf Abū Jaʿfar, Abū al-Khaṭṭāb, Ibn ʿAqīl, and others—also forbade this.

Mālik supported his view with what he related in his Muwaṭṭaʾ from Yūnus ibn Sayf, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb passed by Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah while he was selling raisins in the market and said, “Either raise your price or leave our market.”

Al-Shāfiʿī and those who agreed with him replied with another report, saying: al-Darrāwardī narrated to us from Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Tammār, from al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, from ʿUmar, that he passed by Ḥāṭib in the market of the Muṣallā, and before him were two sacks of raisins. He asked about their price, and Ḥāṭib quoted two mudd for a dirham. ʿUmar said, “A caravan is coming from al-Ṭāʾif carrying raisins, and they will take your price as their benchmark. Either raise your price, or take your raisins indoors and sell them as you wish.” When ʿUmar returned, he reconsidered, then went to Ḥāṭib at his home and said, “What I told you was neither a definitive ruling nor a judicial verdict; it was simply something I thought would benefit the townspeople. Sell wherever you like and however you like.” Al-Shāfiʿī commented, “This narration, in its import, does not contradict what Mālik transmitted; rather…”