Introduction

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SALE OF WATER IN ISLAM

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Water is an asset of human being because water is a necessities for life. People use water in varies condition such bathing, gardening, washing, drinking etc. In scientist research about human, they have mention about human need water to survive. Human only can live in 3 days without water. If more than 3 days, human probably die because of lack of water in their body.

Nowadays, people use water to generate their income such selling mineral water etc. Moreover, some companies also take an opportunities to sell water in certain residential area like Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS). This situation make a sense towards the citizen where by citizen pretend to say that water is their right to own, it’s not belong to any other companies, and it is also free to use. But in other side which is from companies perspective, they also provide a service where they purified the water for citizen.

So, to overcome this problem, we need to find what shari’ah had derive about ownership of water or simply say, “Isn’t allowed to sell water?”. Before we went through in the water discussion, let we derive what is basic principle of property. In Islam, property had been own through three ways. First, a person can become an owner of property through contracts. Second, ownership over properties could also be acquired through inheritance. Third, a private ownership right can also be established through the rule first possession of natural resources.

Beside that , there are certain properties cannot be own by individuals. These may include, for instance, the atmosphere, free air, heat coming from the sun, the ocean and its resource and space. These properties belong to all mankind and individuals or nations cannot claim an exclusive right over them. There are certain other resources that individuals cannot own as they belong to the public or nation as a whole. In a hadith the prophet (pbAbuh) has stated: “Muslims are partners in grass (pastures), water and fire.

The principle that is laid down in the hadith is that the society is declared the owner of natural resources. These include public pastures, forests, rivers, inland water resources, wildlife, land, mountains, mines, minerals, etc. These recources belong to the people who reside in that territory who have equal right to benefit from them. According to Maliki School, even if mine is found on someone’s private land, it would to become a public property.

The role of the state with regard to public properties is one of supervision and guardianship. The state should manage them either directly or through private companies for the common welfare of the people. For example, the state may grant concessions to timber companies for logging purposes. However, these companies cannot claim ownership of the forests but are only authorised to do logging activities in a certain area of forest for a limited period. It is possible in certain situations that a public property is transferred into a private property. For instance, land belong to the public. However, the state may give land to individuals. A hadith of teh prophet (pbAbuh) states: “whoever revives (state-owned) dead land has the right of ownership to it.

A fundamental principle in dealing with wealth-generating resources in Islam is combatting unfair distribution, "in order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you." Thus, Islamic jurisprudence attempts to balance the reward of work and the public interest in managing water resources. The Prophet discouraged the selling of water. Amrou Ibn Dinar said, "We do not know whether he meant flowing water in nature (in rivers and lakes) or transported water (with added value)." However, most Muslim scholars (Zouhaili 1992) agree that water could be sold like any other commodity. The Prophet once said: "he who purchases the Ruma Well and offers its water to Muslims free of charges will be granted paradise." This saying indicates that wells can be traded, and so can their water. He also said: "it is better for anyone of you to take a rope and cut the wood (from the forest) and carry it over his back and sell it (as a means of earning his living) rather than to ask a person for something and that person may give him or not." Thus, Muslim scholars conclude that water, like lumber and other public commodities, could be sold and traded (Zouhaili 1992).

More specifically, most Muslim scholars subdivide water resources for trading purposes into three categories (Sabeq 1981; Zouhaili 1992): private goods, restricted public goods, and public goods.

Water stored in private containers, private distribution systems, and reservoirs is considered as a private good. This also includes water that has been extracted from wells and rivers using special equipment or obtained through water distribution companies. This water belongs to its owner and cannot be used without his permission. The owner has the right to use it, trade it, sell it, or donate it. Even though this water is private, a person in need can use it after asking for the owner's permission. Likewise, treated water can be traded because the organization responsible for the treatment has spent money and invested work in it (added value or reward for work).

This ruling can encompass water from treatment plants, water privately transported and stored, and any water to obtain which work, infrastructure, and knowledge have been invested.

Water bodies such as lakes, water streams, and springs that are located on private lands are considered to be restricted public goods. This water does not belong to its owner in the large sense of ownership; rather, the owner merely has special rights and privileges over other users. For instance, other users can use this water for drinking and basic needs, but they cannot use it for agricultural and industrial purposes without the permission of the owner. However, the Shafii believe that whoever digs a well owns its water, which is therefore considered to belong to the first category – private goods.

Water in rivers, lakes, glaciers, aquifers, and seas, and from snow and rainfall is a public good. Anyone has the right to use it (properly) for drinking and for agricultural and industrial purposes as long as this does not hinder environmental or public welfare. This water can be trans¬ported in pipes, canals, and containers for private use. The government should not prevent its use, unless it can prove that the use will produce harm to the public welfare, damage to the environment, overuse, or unfair trade. Water falling in this category cannot be sold or bought for private interest (Zouhaili 1992). However, if any value is added, such as treatment, storage, and transportation, the water becomes a private good, and it can be sold to recover cost and generate profit.

Although Islamic jurisprudence does not go into the specifics of setting static regulations for pricing or market control, it does put forward a set of general principles that guide the pricing of any traded goods including water. These guiding principles can be summarized as follows (Sabeq 1981; Zouhaili 1992).

• In the spirit of the Quran and the Prophet's sayings, Muslim scholars encourage giving water away free of charge, indicating that Allah will reward those who do so. However, they indicate that the owner of private water should not be forced to provide water free of charge except in compelling conditions, and where other sources of water are not available. Even in such conditions, the owner must be fairly compensated for the water.

• Private and restricted private water can be traded like any other good.

• Public water cannot be sold.

• The market sets the prices.

Most scholars agree that the government must intervene to fix prices when a merchant's conduct harms the market or the public welfare (Sabeq 1981). Muslim scholars also state that whenever the interests of the merchant and those of the consumer clash, the interests of the consumer must be given priority. Scholars agree that Islam forbids speculation and manipulation of the market to raise prices and increase profit. It is reported that the Prophet said, "whoever enters in the affairs of Muslims to manipulate prices, it is rightful for Allah to seat him in hellfire."

In conclusion, it is allow to sell water in stead of the posession towards the water itself. For example, Splitzer selling mineral water, the got an effort to search the water supply for them selling the water. Also with SYABAS and ASJ where they need to distill the water before distribute to citizen and obviously it incurred certain cost.