"According to the Islamic law, hoarding of items of public need, especially if the commodity is considered to be a basic necessity, is haram (forbidden) and is prohibited by Islam," Zainal Abidin, head of the Palu MUI office, stated in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Friday.
Abidin opined that the hoarding of cooking oil would cause the price to spike due to an increase in demand owing to which their actions fail to cater to the residents' interests.
The Palu MUI head affirmed that traders profiting from hoarding, which causes commodity shortage and inconvenience to residents, have engaged in a sinful act.
"We urge parties that engage in trade activities to refrain from committing this act, as it will harm the public and is a sin," he remarked.
Abidin, concurrently a professor at Palu Islamic State University, urged law enforcers to bring the hoarders to book, as they have committed a despicable act that is negatively affecting the regional economy.
"The MUI does not support such acts, and what they have done is bad behaviour. We also laud the Police's food task force that has blown the lid off the cooking oil hoarding crime," the MUI head noted.
Earlier, the Central Sulawesi Police's food task force had discovered 53,869 litres of cooking oil hoarded by cooking oil distributor CV AJ during a raid in Palu on Thursday (Mar 3).
The task force head, Ilham Saparona, confirmed that law enforcers had sealed the warehouse where the hoarded cooking oil was stored.
"We have sealed two places after we found thousands of Viola-brand cooking oil stored since October 2021. We have found 4,209 boxes, or equivalent to 53,869 litres of cooking oil in the warehouse," Saparona stated.
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Translator: M Ridwan, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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