Commercial Competition in Islamic Jurisprudence and its Impact on the Market

Abstract This study is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master Degree at the Faculty of Graduate Studies at An-Najah National University and consists of four chapters and a conclusion. In the first chapter, the researcher discussed the concept of legitimate commercial competition, its objectives, its importance along with examples on legitimate commercial competition and its impact on the market. This chapter was divided into four parts in which the researcher explained commercial competition, the opinion of Islamic Law regarding commerce and commercial competition, the objectives of commercial competition, its importance and conditions, in addition to examples on legitimate commercial competition and its impact on the market. In the second chapter, the researcher addressed the issue of illegitimate commercial competition and its impact on the market in three different parts in which she explained illegitimate competition, illegitimate sources of income, and modern examples of illegitimate competition. In the third chapter, the researcher talked about the examples of selling approaches that are prohibited by Islam and their impact on the market. This chapter came in six parts and addressed monopoly and its impact on the market, Talaqi Al-Rukban (a form of selling contract that is made between the owners of the goods and the one who receives them before entering the city; this man would deceive the owners of the goods by not telling them real price of the goods), Bay’ Al-Hader Lil Badi and its impact on the market (which is a form of commercial act whereby the inhabitant of a certain city tries to sell the goods brought into this city by a stranger instead of letting the latter do the selling by himself with the people of this city), Bay’ Al-Najash and its impact on the market (Here a person tries to increase the price of a certain good so that others would not be able to purchase it), selling things to a person that have previously been sold to another and the impact of this on the market, and finally the form of commercial transaction whereby a person would tell another who is about to buy a certain good that he has a better piece of good that he would like to sell to him. The researcher concluded her study with the major findings and recommendations, in addition to a list of the reference books that she used in her study.