Examination of the Ruling on Drug Hoarding and Its Harms in Islamic Jurisprudence
Key words: Drug hoarding, hoarding, monopolist, lack of drug supply
Muhammad Ayoub Awab
Abstract
The issue of hoarding medicines, which is carried out with the motive of selling them at high prices or causing harm to society, is also significant due to the vital role and direct connection of medicines to individual health, but no independent research has been conducted on its dimensions and religious considerations. Therefore, the present study aims to explain the religious ruling on it by analyzing the relevant verses and hadiths and assessing the feasibility of generalizing the religious evidence of hoarding to the storage and non-distribution of medicines, and to plan and examine it. The research was an applied type of descriptive-analytical. In collecting data and information, documentary and library methods were used, and the analysis of information obtained from Quranic sources, narrations, and jurisprudential texts was qualitative and based on the researchers' inferences from them. Based on the findings of the research, Quranic sources and narrations show that the criterion for the religious prohibition of hoarding is the need of individuals for the stored goods, which is mentioned in some narrations, general hoarding of "food" and also includes the general meaning of supplying needed medicines. In addition, the rule of non-harm is also a general reason, another document on the prohibition of hoarding medicines. The owner of the medicine is responsible for supplying and distributing them, and in case of refusal, the head of the Islamic government does this on his behalf. Also, according to the rules of criminal jurisprudence, a hoarder of medicine is subject to a ta'ziri punishment, and the amount of it is determined by the head of the Islamic government.
