بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

وَلَا تَأۡكُلُوٓاْ أَمۡوَٲلَكُم بَيۡنَكُم بِٱلۡبَـٰطِلِ وَتُدۡلُواْ بِهَآ إِلَى ٱلۡحُڪَّامِ لِتَأۡڪُلُواْ فَرِيقً۬ا مِّنۡ أَمۡوَٲلِ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلۡإِثۡمِ وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ

“Do not eat up each other’s property by false means, nor approach with it the authorities to eat up a portion of the property of the people sinfully, while you know (that you are unjust in doing so).” (188) 

Ruling: This verse forbids the acquiring of wealth by means that the Shariah as prohibited, whether it be through bribery, usurpation, stealing, fraud, gambling, theft, interest etc. (Tafsir Uthmani V1 pg 198)

Ruling: The literal translation of the verse is “you all do not consume your wealth amongst yourselves in a false manner”. Allah said “your wealth”, to indicate that infringing upon others property is an invitation for others to infringe and steal unjustly in yours. If ever body were to infringe upon other people’s properties, and this came the societal norm, the following would occur. Someone who sells adulterated spices, so he can make more profit by selling more, will make more money than he would have by not adulterating the spices. But, then he goes to buy milk from a grocer, who adulterates the milk, so he ends up losing wealth in that he is not getting what he paid for. So, he earned more, but the next guy took the extra wealth out of his coffers. The word your wealth shows that the one who unlawfully chooses to take the wealth of someone, must know that the one whose property is being taken falsely, loves his wealth just as much as the one unjustly taking it loves his. So, if the one being treated unjustly were to take the offenders property, the offender would be hurt by that. (Maarif Al Quran V1 pg 472)

Ruling: The second part of the verse is regarding filing false cases and taking false oaths. It prohibits us from taking property cases to the authorities concerning that which we have no right in. Sometimes, a person may be eloquent in presenting his case, thereby causing the judge to pass a wrong verdict, however this does not permit the person to take that which is not his right. It is prohibited to bribe judges. Similarly, one should also not give gifts to judges and ruler’s so that they feel lenient towards you, and then through that softness you acquire false wealth. This verse also prohibits people from informing unjust rulers about the wealth of others as this may be the means of them usurping it. (Tafsir Uthmani V1 pg 199)