Applying for 25 kg of sugar in order to get 5 kg

Question

Question: If 5 kg of sugar is needed, an application has to be made for 25 kg; only then can 5 kg be obtained. If an application is made for 5 kg, then barely one kilogram will be given, which will not meet the need. Does the case described above not fall under lying?

Answer

In this case “25 kg” is the designation (‘unwan) of 5 kg, and in the government’s view too what it designates (mu‘anwan) is just 5 kg; so this difference between the designation and the designated has, as it were, been prescribed by the government itself.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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