Yūsuf and Muhammad, unless the legal interdiction applies to specific individuals. If any of them sells at the price fixed by the ruler, the sale is valid, since he is not compelled to make it. May the judge sell a hoarder’s food without his consent?
One view is that this falls under the familiar disagreement concerning the sale of a debtor’s property. Another is that the judge may sell it in this case by agreement, because Abū Hanīfah recognizes legal interdiction to prevent harm to the public.
When prices rose during the Prophet’s lifetime, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and people asked him to set prices but he declined, there is no mention of anyone possessing food and refusing to sell it. Rather, most food sellers were traders bringing food into town, who sold it upon reaching the market.
However, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade a town-dweller to sell on behalf of a desert-dweller: he forbade him to act as his broker, saying:
“Leave people alone; Allah provides for some through others.”
This is authentically reported from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through several chains of transmission. He thus forbade a town-dweller familiar with prices to act as an agent for a desert-dweller bringing goods to market. If he acted as his agent, his knowledge of people’s need for the goods would enable him to raise the price charged to the buyer. He therefore forbade him to act as the seller’s agent—even though agency is generally permissible—because this would raise prices for people.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also forbade intercepting traders bringing goods to market. This too is authentically reported through several chains of transmission. The seller was granted the option to rescind the sale upon reaching the market. Hence, most jurists held that he prohibited this practice because it harmed the seller, who would receive less than the fair market price and be shortchanged. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, therefore granted the option to rescind to this