and his fingers felt moisture. He asked, ‘What is this, owner of the food?’ The man replied, ‘Rain fell on it, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘Why did you not put it on top of the food so that people could see it? Whoever cheats us is not one of us.’” Another version reads:

“Whoever cheats me is not one of me.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus stated that a person who cheats does not fall under the unqualified designation of people of religion and faith. Likewise, he said:

“No adulterer commits adultery while he is a believer; no thief steals while he is a believer; and no one drinks wine while he is a believer.”

He thus denied such a person the reality of faith by which one merits reward and deliverance from punishment, even though he retains the foundation of faith that distinguishes him from the disbelievers and through which he will be brought out of the Fire.

Cheating occurs in sales through concealing defects and deceptively presenting goods—for example, when the goods appear better on the outside than they are within, as with the man whom the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, encountered and rebuked. It also occurs in crafts: among those who prepare foods such as bread, cooked dishes, lentils, roasted meat and other things; those who make clothing, such as weavers, tailors and the like; and those who manufacture other goods. They must be forbidden to engage in cheating, betrayal of trust and concealment.

Among these are the “alchemists,” who adulterate coins, gems, perfumes and other things. They manufacture gold, silver, ambergris, musk, gems, saffron, rose water and other things, imitating Allah’s creation thereby. Yet Allah has not created anything