Measuring out cloth with a short gaz (yard)

Question

What is the ruling on keeping a short gaz (a unit of length, about a yard, ≈ 0.9 m) and measuring out cloth with it? What is the ruling on money earned in this way?

Answer

Keeping a gaz shorter than the length customarily (‘urf) known among people, which everyone knows, and selling cloth by measuring with it, is deceiving the buyer, which is impermissible according to the Shari‘a.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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