Mohammed on property rights

The prophet Mohammed was an early proponent of property rights. When a famine in Medina brought sharp price increases, people implored him to less the hardship by fixing prices. He refused because, having once been a merchant himself, he believed the buyers’ and sellers’ free choices should not be overridden. “Allah is the only one who sets the prices and gives prosperity and poverty,” he said. “I would not want to be complained about before Allah by someone whose property or livelihood has been violated.”

From John McMillan’s ‘Reinventing the Bazaar.’ See a previous post from the same book.