Answer: This is not the exact form of hoarding (iḥtikār). Hoarding is when a person buys the goods, stores them, and waits for the price to rise later on—or when he buys them and sells them immediately but at a marked-up price. We have already stated that such conduct is impermissible and that the authorities must stop him. If no other supply of those goods exists and people are in need of them, he must be compelled to sell them at the same price for which others are selling.

Question: So there is a difference between this situation and hoarding?

Answer: It resembles hoarding in one respect, but it is not hoarding in every sense.

Question: What is the precise definition of hoarding?

Answer: It is when a person purchases the people’s essential necessities—of which no alternative is available in the town—stores them away, and waits for the price to rise in the future. That is forbidden; stern warnings have been reported concerning it, and the practice itself is prohibited.

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Lost Property (luqṭa)

Question: What is the Islamic ruling on lost property that someone finds in an uninhabited area, whether it is valuable or of little worth? Are there places where it is forbidden to pick up anything, great or small? While driving between Mecca and Jeddah I found several sponge mattresses on the road and took them home—am I liable for anything in that regard or not?

Answer: Lost property has specific rulings in Islamic law, which the jurists—may Allah have mercy on them—have detailed, drawing on the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.