Obtaining rations from the government and selling them at a profit

Question

I buy grain from a government ration shop and sell it, making a profit of anywhere from fifty to 80 percent on it. Is this trade permissible or not?

Answer

If the shop is your own and you are its owner, then you have the right to take a profit on your own goods, but do not take so great a profit that it runs contrary to decency (muruwwa). If, however, you sell the grain on behalf of the government or a society and receive a commission for it, then that commission is lawful for you, but sell at the very rate that has been fixed,…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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