Domain of Ta's ir (Price Determination) in Jurisprudence of Islamic Schools of Law

In Islamic jurisprudence, Tas’ir is defined as the pricing of goods or services by the ruler or his representative and determining that price as the basis of transactions. All Shi’ite and the majority of Sunni jurisprudents agree that Tas’ir is Haram (Forbidden) in normal conditions when there is no hoarding or surcharge. In cases of popular need for specific goods and services, monopoly on the production or sale of goods, hoarding goods, surcharge and gross difference in price, price determination is allowed. However, the question is what commodities are subject to pricing in permissible cases. The present study addresses the theories of Islamic jurisprudents to answer this question. Some Sunni jurisprudents permit price determination only in the case of food for humans and animals; some others in the case of quantifiable and weighable goods; and the rest in the case of all goods needed by the society. For observing justice and preventing oppression, enjoining good and forbidding wrong, and the principles of no harm (La darar) and no distress (La Haraj) and considering weak arguments for limiting price determination, the present study concludes that price determination includes all essential goods and commodities needed by people, that is, goods that cause harm or distress among the public when rare or expensive.