undesirable attributes. For instance, if a man sells another a car and says, “This car is brand-new, made in such-and-such a year; it is clean and has this and that feature,” praising it for qualities it does not actually possess, we say: he has lied in what he said. If he sells the car even though it has a defect and fails to inform the buyer of that defect, we say: he has concealed the truth and given no disclosure. Blessing is tied to truthfulness and disclosure. The distinction between the two is that truthfulness relates to the desirable qualities, whereas disclosure relates to the undesirable ones. Concealing a defect is the opposite of disclosure, and attributing to the item qualities it lacks is the opposite of truthfulness.

Another example: a man sells someone a ewe and claims, “This ewe gives plenty of milk; its milk has such-and-such properties,” while he is lying. This is contrary to truthfulness because he has ascribed to the item desirable, sought-after qualities. But if he sells the ewe while it suffers from an unnoticeable illness and keeps that from the buyer, we say: he has failed to disclose. And if he attributes to it desirable qualities it does not possess, he has lied and shown no truthfulness. Thus disclosure concerns the undesirable qualities and truthfulness concerns the desirable ones: if he describes it with sought-after qualities it does not have, he has lied, and if he conceals the undesirable qualities it does have, he has hidden the defect and provided no disclosure.

Among the practices some people engage in today—may Allah grant well-being—is to place the good produce on top and the inferior underneath. Such a person has neither disclosed nor spoken truthfully: he has not disclosed because he did not show the defective dates, and he has not been truthful because he presented the dates as first-rate when they are not.

The same applies to some car dealers: they sell cars in showrooms, and the seller knows with certainty that the car has a defect, yet he hides it and says