Al-Makasib al-Muharrama
Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama (Arabic: المَکاسِب المُحَرَّمَة, literally: forbidden businesses) refers to businesses that are haram (forbidden) in Islam. In fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), forbidden businesses and transactions are referred to as "al-makasib al-muharrama". They include buying and selling alcoholic drinks, pigs, and gambling tools, as well as receiving bribes and selling weapons to the enemies of Islam. Standard books of fiqh refer to 5 types of forbidden businesses.
Definition
Faqihs (Islamic jurisprudents) have categorized businesses into three types with respect to their judicial rulings: haram (forbidden), makruh (disliked), and mubah (permissible). Businesses considered by Islam to be haram are referred to in fiqh as "al-makasib al-muharrama" (forbidden transactions or businesses).[1] Such businesses include selling and purchasing alcoholic drinks, pigs, and gambling tools, as well as receiving bribes and selling weapons to the enemies of Islam.[2]
Types
The issue of forbidden businesses constitutes the bulk of Islamic jurisprudential discussions and debates concerning transactions or businesses. This part is known as "al-makasib al-muharrama". In books of fiqh, forbidden businesses are discussed within five categories:
- Businesses concerning what counts as najis (impure) objects in sharia, such as selling and purchasing the urine, blood, semen, dead corpse of an animal, dogs, pigs, and alcoholic drinks.
- Businesses concerning things intended to be used in a haram (forbidden) way, such as selling and purchasing gambling tools, selling grapes to a person who intends to produce wine from it, and selling weapons to the enemies of Islam.
- Businesses concerning useless objects.
- Businesses through forbidden actions, such as writing misleading books, receiving bribes, cursing the believers, magic, and gambling.
- Businesses concerning the things it is wajib (obligatory) to do, such as receiving money for saying one's obligatory prayers and burying a dead person.[3]
Books
There are some fiqhi (jurisprudential) books with the title, "al-makasib al-muharrama", which concern the issue of forbidden businesses, including:
- Al-Makasib al-muharrama by al-Shaykh al-Ansari. This is the first volume of his books, al-Makasib, which came to be known as al-Makasib al-muharrama.
- Al-Makasib al-muharrama by Imam Khomeini.
- Al-Makasib al-muharrama by Muhamamd 'Ali Araki.
- Dirasat fi l-makasib al-muharrama by Husayn'ali Muntaziri.
Notes
References
- Anṣārī, Murtaḍā al-. Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama. Qom: Kungira-yi Buzurgdāsht-i Shaykh al-Anṣārī, 1415 AH.
- Bāqirī, Aḥmad. Farhang-i fiqh-i Farsi. Tehran: Muʾassisat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Fiqh al-Islāmī, [n.d].
- Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAlī Baqqāl. Second edition. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.