Obtaining goods with a ration card and selling them at a higher price

Question

Nowadays people obtain sugar, Dalda (a brand of vegetable cooking fat) and other items that are issued under rationing on a ration card, using their own card, and then sell them at black-market prices, which are usually higher, and this brings them a profit. Is this permissible according to the Shari‘a or not?

Answer

By buying through a ration card a person becomes the owner, and the owner has the right to sell his own thing at whatever price he wishes. But it is necessary to bear in mind that if this is against the law, then there is a danger to one’s honour and property, and to put one’s honour and property in danger for the sake of profit is not a matter of good sense.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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