the item because they regard it as inexpensive; but once its price rises they abandon it—there is no blame on them for that. Likewise, some people raise the bid because they really want the item and continue increasing the price until it far surpasses its actual worth.
Thus, in their bidding practices people fall into three categories:
- Najsh, and that is forbidden.
- The bidder who thinks the item is cheap and likely to earn him a profit. He has no particular interest in the item itself, yet when he finds it under-priced he keeps bidding; once the price grows, he lets it go. This is unobjectionable.
- The person who genuinely needs the article and wishes to buy it, so he bids until he feels satisfied and secures it. This too is permissible.
The Prophet’s ﷺ words, “and do not hate one another,” mean that no believer should harbour hatred toward his fellow believer. Among Muslims it is impermissible for a person to loathe his brother—in other words, to detest him inwardly—simply because he is his brother. If, however, that brother is an open sinner, you may hate him on account of his sin, but do not despise him absolutely; hate in him the disobedience, yet love in him the element of faith.
It is self-evident that if we encounter a Muslim who drinks wine, smokes, and lets his garment trail in arrogance, we do not detest him as we detest a disbeliever. Whoever hates such a man to the same extent that he hates a disbeliever has turned the scales upside down. How can you equate a believing, though sinful, transgressor with a disbeliever? That is a grave error. Some people even loathe a believing sinner more than they loathe a disbeliever, and this—Allah’s refuge is sought—is an inversion