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Presented at the monthly session of the Central Nigerian Office, Sunday, 5th October 2025, from 10:00 am Nigerian by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)
1.0 Is There Room for Ethics in Business?:
2.0 Business is Full of Ethical Traps:► Does the profit motive drive people to cut ethical corners?
► Does competition for customers encourage misrepresentation?
► Can marketing be done with honesty?
► Can an honest trader do business at all?
► Can an honest trader make a profit?
► What do we teach marketing students: straight honesty or techniques of persuasion?
► Is the commercial advertising industry ethical at all?
► Is the consumer sovereign, or is he misled to part with his money?
► How is psychology used in commercial advertisements?
► Masajid are the best places and markets are the worst.
► روى مسلم عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: (أحب البلاد إلى الله تعالى مساجدها، وأبغض البلاد إلى الله أسواقها.
► Traders wanted to abandon business when Islam came because the pre-Islamic markets were full of unethical practices. Qur’an was revealed to encourage them to stay in business.
► لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَن تَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۚ فَإِذَا أَفَضْتُم مِّنْ عَرَفَاتٍ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ عِندَ الْمَشْعَرِ الْحَرَامِ ۖ وَاذْكُرُوهُ كَمَا هَدَاكُمْ وَإِن كُنتُم مِّن قَبْلِهِ لَمِنَ الضَّالِّينَ [البقرة: 198]
► Avoid ethical traps in business for example volunteer to educate the customer on the defects in your goods. There are limits to this education in social transactions case of Omar and the man who was marrying off his sister.
► Cleanse your wealth from any mistakes.
► Sadaqat cleanses business.
► يا معشر التجار إن الشيطان والإثم يحضران البيع فشوبوا بيعكم بالصدقة. الترمذي
► Zakat cleanses wealth.
► خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَا. ]التوبة[103 :
3.0 Business Ethics is from Early Tarbiyat: The milk vendor and her daughter
► في جوف الليل يمشي الفاروق مع خادمه أسلم بين أزقة المدينة المنورة.. يتفقّد أحوال رعيته.. ينهكهما التطواف، فيسندان ظهريهما على جدار بيت متواضع الحال؛ ليتناهى إلى سمعهما حوارٌ خلّده التاريخ:
► قومي إلى ذلك اللبن فامذقيه بالماء.
► يا أُمَّاه، وما علمتِ ما كان من عَزْمَة أمير المؤمنين اليوم؟
► وما كان من عزمته؟
► إنه أمر مناديًا فنادى: لا يُشَابُ اللبن بالماء.
► يا بُنيّتي، قومي إلى اللبن فامْذقيه بالماء فإنك في موضع لا يراك فيه عمر، ولا منادي عمر.
► واللَّه ما كنت لأطيعه في الملأ وأعصيه في الخلاء، إن كان عمر لا يرانا، فربّ أمير المؤمنين يرانا".
4.0 The Concept Of ‘The Honest Trader’: Al taajir al amiin
► The honest trader is at a high rank.
► التاجر الصدوق الأمين مع النبيين والصديقين والشهداء. الترمذي
► The Prophet traded using Khadijah’s money.
► The Prophet went for trade to Shaam. He also traded in markets around Makkah: Ukadh, Majnah, and Dhu al-Majaaz.
► Traders used to flock to him because of his honesty.
► He was well known for his honesty until he was named ‘Al amiin.’
5.0 Ethics Requires An Alternative Business Model:
► Small community-based businesses can operate within ethics.
► We have yet to develop an ethical model for big business.
► We cannot have an alternative model unless we also develop an alternative economic system.
► Our challenge is the alternative system.
► I have a dream that we can mobilise research funds for youths to run small ethical businesses in small communities that adhere to the Shariah in all their systems.
► The success of small systems isolated from the prevalent capitalist system.
► Slowly develop a theoretical or even empirical basis for honest business.
► Zakat al-maal cleanses wealth.
6.0 Concept of Business Ethics:
► The concept of business ethics is a misnomer from a strict Islamic perspective. The correct term should be transaction jurisprudence, fiqh al mu’amalaat’ because ethics is not an independent discipline but is part of fiqh.
► Islamic Law is comprehensive, encompassing positive law and morality.
► The modern discipline of business ethics arose as a necessity to deal with issues of a moral nature that the existing secularized laws could not handle because they lacked a moral dimension whose source is religion.► Business ethics = religion.
7.0 Evolution of Maqasid Al Shari’at - 1:
► Maqasid al shariat are like a legal theory with the difference that they are developed from text, whereas normal legal theory is developed from actual court cases.
► Al Juwayni (d. 478H), in his book al Burhan, proposed extensions to the methodology of qiyaas and also proposed general principles, qawaid.
► AlGhazali (d. 505H) developed and systematized al-Juwayni's ideas, proposed broad principles of maslahat, and introduced the term maqasid al shariat. He divided the maqasid into religious, maqasid diini, and earthly, mawasid duniyawi.
8.0 Evolution of Maqasid Al Shari’at - 2:
► Each purpose has dual aspects: securing a benefit, tahsil, and preservation with prevention of harm, ibqa. The term ri'atyat al maqasid covers both tahsil and ibqa. Ibqa, as mentioned above, has both preservation and promotion.
► Ghazzali divided the maqasid into three parts: necessities, dharurat; needs, hajiyat; and tawasu'u & taysiir. The third part has come to be known as embellishments, tahsinat. Some authors included maqasid al shariat under the general theme of ashbaah wa al nadhair.
9.0 Evolution of Maqasid Al Shari’at - 3:
► The new theory of maqasid al shariat opened the way for further development of the flexible part of the Law and excited the interest of many jurists, the most famous being the Andalusian Maliki scholar Abu Ishaq al Shatibi.
► Most of al-Shatibi’s work was an elaboration of the ideas proposed by Ghazzali. The new theory did not, however, lead to major practical changes because by that time the Islamic state was in decline, and the flexible part of the law was in the hands of the political leaders and not the jurists.
► A lot of books have been published on the maqasid in the past 20 years and include.
10.0 The 5 Maqasid - 1:
► Protection of diin (hifdh al ddiin)
► Protection of life (hifdh al nafs)
► Protection of lineage (hifdh al nasl)
► Protection of the mind (hifdh al ‘aql)
► Protection of wealth (hifdh al maal).
11.0 The 5 Maqasid - 2:
► Hifdh al nafs is the most commonly used in transactions involving goods and services that are can harm human life.
► Hifdh al nasl is invoked in business transactions that affect the family.
► Hifdh al ‘aql is invoked in business transactions with an effect on the mind especially misdealing commercial advertisement.
► Hifdh al maal is invoked in resource conservation for the benefit of current and future generations.
12.0 Evolution of Qawa’id Al Fiqh - 1:
13.0 Evolution of Qawa’id Al Fiqh - 2: (The First Generation)► Qawaid al fiqh are legal axioms or legal codes needed in the detailed applications of the maqasid.
► The Qur'an and sunnat are comprehensive in the sense of providing general principles, qawa’id, that can be applied to specific situations.
► These principles are either stated in the Nass or are derived by inductive reasoning.
► If we can derive these principles from the primary sources, we can make the process of decision-making easier even for the non-specialist.
14.0 Evolution of Qawa’id Al Fiqh - 3: (The Stage of Documentation)► Qawaid existed and were used from the first generation. They were found in the concise but comprehensive sayings, jawamiu al kalim, of the prophet; sayings of the companions, athaar al sahabat, and the sayings of the followers, aqwaal al tabiin.
► Qawaid were also found scattered in the earliest books of fiqh such as Kitaab al Kharaaj by Abu Yusuf Ya'aqub Ibn Ibrahim (d. 182H), Kitaab al Asl by Imaam Muhammad bin al Hasan al Shaybani (d. 189H), al Kitaab al Umm by Imaam al Shafie (d. 204H).
► Imaam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal also wrote some qawaid.
15.0 Evolution of Qawa’id Al Fiqh - 4: (The Stage of Establishment and Coordination)► Qawaid were scattered in the books of al Juwayni (d. 478H), Ibn Rushd, the grandfather (d. 520H), al Nawawi (d. 676H), al Qarafi (d. 784H), Ibn Taymiyat (d. 728H), and Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751H).
► The following authors collected and published qawa’id in dedicated books: Imaam Abu Tahir al Dabaas al Hanafi in the 4th century (d. ), Imaam al Karakhi (d. 340H), al Dabuusi (d. 430H), al Subki (d. 771H), al Zarkashi (d. 794H), al Suyuti (d. 911H), Ibn Nujaim (d. 970H).
16.0 The Book Majallat Al Ahkaam Al Adliyyat:► The Majallat was published in 1285-1293H. The Majallat stated 99 basic qawa’id and expanded their applications to a total of 1790 qawa’id covering a wide array of issues in commercial transactions in the Hanafi school of law.
► The Majallat is considered an effort in the controversial area of codifying the shari’at. Many commentaries and translations were made of the Majallat.
► Unfortunately, this effort was not continued to its fruition in other areas of the Law because of the decline of the Ottoman state and its eventual overthrow by the European colonial powers, who then went on to impose their legal codes on Muslim countries and marginalized the shari’at.
17.0 Articles of the Majallat - 1:
18.0 Articles of the Majallat - 2:► Article 1: Definition of fiqh الْفِقْهُ: عِلْمٌ بِالْمَسَائِلِ الشَّرْعِيَّةِ الْعَمَلِيَّةِ الْمُكْتَسَبَةِ مِنْ أَدِلَّتِهَا التَّفْصِيلِيَّة
► Article 2: Intentions الْأُمُورُ بِمَقَاصِدِهَا.
► Article 4: Certainty الْيَقِينُ لَا يَزُولُ بِالشَّك
► Article 8: presumption of innocence الْأَصْلُ بَرَاءَةُ الذِّمَّةِ
► Article 17: hardship الْمَشَقَّةُ تَجْلِبُ التَّيْسِيرَ
19.0 Articles of the Majallat - 3:► Article 96: protection of property rights لَا يَجُوزُ لِأَحَدٍ أَنْ يَتَصَرَّفَ فِي مِلْكِ الْغَيْرِ بِلَا إذْنِهِ
► Article 105: definition and classification of the sale الْبَيْعُ: مُبَادَلَةُ مَالٍ بِمَالِ وَيَكُونُ مُنْعَقِدًا وَغَيْرَ مُنْعَقِدٍ
► Article 126: Definition of maalالْمَالُ هُوَ مَا يَمِيلُ إلَيْهِ طَبْعُ الْإِنْسَانِ وَيُمْكِنُ ادِّخَارُهُ إلَى وَقْتِ الْحَاجَةِ مَنْقُولًا كَانَ أَوْ غَيْرَ مَنْقُولٍ.
► Article 167: definition of a sale الْبَيْعُ يَنْعَقِدُ بِإِيجَابٍ وَقَبُولٍ.
► Article 120: Sale of non-existent goodsبَيْعُ الْمَعْدُومِ بَاطِلٌ فَيَبْطُلُ بَيْعُ ثَمَرَةٍ لَمْ تَبْرُزْ أَصْلًا.
► Article 237: Mentioning the price تَسْمِيَةُ الثَّمَنِ حِينَ الْبَيْعِ لَازِمَةٌ فَلَوْ بَاعَ بِدُونِ تَسْمِيَةِ ثَمَنٍ كَانَ الْبَيْعُ فَاسِدًا.
► Article 1849: Arbitrator إذَا عُرِضَ حُكْمُ الْمُحَكَّمِ عَلَى الْقَاضِي الْمَنْصُوبِ مِنْ قِبَلِ السُّلْطَانِ فَإِذَا كَانَ مُوَافِقًا لِلْأُصُولِ صَدَّقَهُ وَإِلَّا نَقَضَهُ.
► Article 1851: resolution of disputesذَا فَصَلَ أَحَدٌ الدَّعْوَى الْوَاقِعَةَ بَيْنَ شَخْصَيْنِ بِدُونِ أَنْ يُحَكَّمَ فِي ذَلِكَ وَرَضِيَ الطَّرَفَانِ بِذَلِكَ وَأَجَازَا حُكْمَهُ يَنْفُذُ حُكْمُهُ.