Throughout history and still holding true in todays markets, product is measured in weight and exchanged for a good or service.

Whether in grams, ounces, pounds, kilos, tonnes or other units, these units of measurement provide buyers and sellers standardised units to value and exchange.

Traditionally if you wanted to go to the market to buy an ounce of beef the butcher will find an ounce worth of weight and place it on side of the balance and place the meat on the other side. When the balance shows equal measure it will start to hover between the two, indicating the beef quantity equal to the ounce of weight.

This is called an even balance. Although the weighing mechanisms in some of today’s supermarkets may be different, such as an internal spring calibrated to expand and contract proportionately to the amount of weight added and displayed digitally, the concept of benchmarking standard weights remains constant.

Playing with the Standard

So what if the shopkeeper plays with the balance weight so the ounce weight is not an ounce but a lesser weight, which the customer is unaware of.

This practice where a trader pretends to be using a standard weight but is actually using a lower weight, without the knowledge of the customer, effectively reducing the customers purchasing power was abolished in Islam.

An entire chapter is dedicated to this type of malpractice in the Quran called “Al-Mutafifeen” which was revealed to the Prophet upon his arrival in Medina where this was practiced. After the arrival of Prophet and the spreading of the knowledge this practice was stopped by sellers in markets of Medina shortly afterwards.

The ease of implementing changes was primarily because the people of Arabia often didn’t know a practice was prohibited and so when revelation came there was no big revolution or uproar that took place, they simply stopped reducing weights at the customers expense and returned to using standardised weights.

Similar events took place when interest was prohibited. Some of the Prophets own family members who were lending to people on usurious terms, i.e. asking for the debt plus an increase for providing that debt, discontinued the practice of usury immediately upon revelation of its prohibition. At the time a normal custom in Mecca and Medina that was discontinued with little fuss, quarrel or loss of wealth.

It is mentioned in the revelation “woe unto them” referring to the sellers that sell using a lighter weight, and when buying use a heavier weight thus getting more product when they purchase and selling less product when they sell.

Referring from the passage : Chapter 83- Al-Mutafifeen, verse 1- 6

“Woe to those who give less [than due], (1) Who, when they take a measure from people, take in full. (2) But if they give by measure or by weight to them, they cause loss. (3) Do they not think that they will be resurrected (4) For a tremendous Day – (5) The Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the worlds? (6)“

So to remove any ambiguity at what is being warned about, and will be asked about on the day of Judgement, : “those who give a measure, give less than due, and those who take a measure from people, take in full”. This could be brokers, people working at shop stores measuring units of meat, fruits, vegetable or even traders dealing with textiles, fabrics, building materials, business people buying and selling or any individual using a measure of weight that is skewed intentionally for trade purposes.

The passage is not aimed at money generated from profit, or the value of the overall item. You could sell half the quantity of product for twice the price, as long as the customer has the knowledge and hence the free will to decide whether to buy from you or from another vendor – that is free, fair and a legitimate (i.e. halal).

What is being shunned and abhorred is telling the customer this weighs (x) amount and using the scales as proof, when the scales have been manipulated intentionally to indicate higher readings. The prohibition being in deception and dishonesty.

The Currency Market

The practice of selling and buying at different rates can be seen openly in the financial markets, namely the currency market.

If travelling to another country where a different currency is used, then the local currency is the new benchmark of trade and exchange. However if you want to obtain this local currency then you will find varying rates.

To clarify if you have 1 dollar and you want to exchange it into pound sterling for example, with an exchange rate of 1.3 you can get 77 pence . Great, so you have just exchanged 1 dollar for 77 pence sterling.

If however, you realised you made a mistake for example and would like the dollar back to pay for parking at the vending machine and you give the banker the 77 pence just exchanged, unfortunately you will have to determine a different calculation and will not get the dollar back.

Exchanging the 77 pence back may get you 92 cent or $0.92 at a lesser exchange rate of 1.2 for example. The bank or currency exchange will have both rates displayed, one for selling and one for buying. Openly, honestly and legally.

Some exchanges between currencies have differences of hundreds, thousands and even millions of units depending on the location and economic output of the country of currency.

As banks and exchanges need to make money in transactions (which is also a discussion about whether money can be made from money i.e. money being a token of trade and not an actual product or service in itself) they may prefer to embed the fees of providing currency service in the exchange rate as opposed to a separate fee of commission.

People traveling and exchanging money at airports are susceptible to charges in differences in exchange rate, and commission fees – losing money at both calculations, primarily because of the special location at airports.

Travelling into a new territory where a different currency is used can be mentally challenging and perplexing, and speedy accustomisation is necessary not just for trade but for existence and survival.

Adjusting Mentally to new Currency

If you are used to working with metric units such as kilograms, grams, meters, kilometers, tons – then you are used to working in the metric system where denominations are usually in tens, hundreds and thousands. e.g. 1000 grams in a kilogram, 1000 meters in a kilometer, 1000 kilograms in a ton.

Being educated and comfortable with metric units, if you find at a measurement in imperial units such as inches, feet, pounds and ounces then you may be completely perplexed and unable to carry out the conversation calculation.

However with practice and exposure to both units, one may be able to find the conversions calculations easier over time primarily because the conversion rates are fixed and do not vary.

i.e there are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram, there are 16 ounces in 1 pound, there are 1.61 kilometres in a mile etc and other conversions that have fixed rates and can be memorised wherever you go in the world.

Warping the standard units

As one becomes more mathematically astute to the conversion rates then the value of the product in one’s mind can be determined more accurately and speedier.

This can be seen for regular shoppers, if you are accustomed to shopping in kilos and grams and you travel to a location where purchasing is in pounds and ounces, it may take a few moments to calculate the conversion rate i.e. 1 kilo equals 2 pounds and 3.27 ounces.

The conversation rate remains constant and hence straightforward. Similarly if you convert litres to gallons, or barrels, you can remember there is 4.54 litres in 1 gallon .

This conversation remains the same wherever a person may travel and can be trusted and memorised as a standard unit of exchange so as not to get robbed or stolen in the marketplace.

Similary we know there is 100 cm in a metre and a 1000 metres in a kilometre. This gives us consistency and accuracy whilst planning, saving and purchasing material.

What about currency conversion rates

Say you want to build a house for example, and you need:

If the 1 metre (m) which contains 100 cemtimetres (cm) fluctuated overnight and contained 80 cm. The 40 m of timbre required to build the house would now jump to 50m of timbre required.

If the fluctuation of the metre further increased e.g. 1 m became equal to 50 cm instead of 100 cm than the timbre requirement would be double what was previously required. We would now need to purchase 80m of timbre instead of 40m of timbre.

Eventually if fluctuation of the metre did not cease you will be unable to plan. All things that were previously based on 1 metre having 100 centimeters will change , changing with it entire dimensions of buildings, landscapes, roads and speed restrictions among many other things.

Similarly , if 1 ton no longer contained 1000 kilograms , but rather 900 kilograms and fluctuated day to day then you may be unable to plan or purchase, furthering resentment and distrust towards the ton as unit of measure.

This feeling of apprehension and discomfort as the basis of your calculations deviate from the constant, is similar to what occurs when currency inflates. If it occurs at national level this can distort the entire pricing structure of goods and services across the nation, discrediting prices, shattering project plans and eliminating savings .

Will being good at Maths help me in making the right decision?

Being good at Mathematics may allow you to make simple conversion calculation mentally to get approximate figures. However with bankers having computers to calculate the transaction, and the buy / sell currency rates available openly, most bankers can calculate accurately what the transaction will cost and the end money that you will take home.

The best thing to be aware about is whether your selling or buying, and hence the rate to expect. If you are in America for example where the local currency is in Dollars, if you want to convert your dollars to another currency you will be buying the other currency which may be more expensive rate.

However, if you are in Russia and you have dollars that you want to convert to Rubles you are selling your dollars at the price given in the bank or the exchange and may get a better price because there are more Rubles in Russia and less Dollars, and so you will be looking to sell you currency.

Understanding whether your buying or selling enables you to anticipate the price conversion at best.

Black markets within developing nations that do not have systematized banking and currency convertors may take advantage of the demand for foreign currency such as the Dollar, Euro or Dinar for trade and charge the local populace rates above normal rates, gaining more for every conversion consequently sending the local currency against the dollar to spiral out of control and setting the stage for gradual inflation and hyperinflation.

Similar to any product being sold in the market, the scarcer it becomes the more valuable it gets and the more suppliers compete to get it to market at a higher price and greater profit. The currency note itself become something of value, and so its price will increase with demand – even though it says $1 equal 100 cents , as it becomes a primary tool or measure, its value will now go beyond 100 cents, maybe worth 150 cents .

One world single currency

As there is no world single currency that can be used across nations and time zones, similar to how the metre and the kilogram is used across the world, then we are still left with the challenge of currency calculations, trade costs and increased likelihood of miscalculations when doing trade overseas.

Today products comprise many different elements, including materials and bespoke items that are sourced throughout the world and so it would make sense to standardise national currencies in the same way weight and distance measurement are across territories and time zones.

Standardising weight as required today by humanity and previously by Islamic manuscript has enabled trade to be a trusted, non-discriminatory practice encouraged throughout the ages and between tribes and communities.

Similarly today progress can be made through the standardising of currency giving business community confidence in trade, investments in new proposals at home and abroad, and reducing risk of inflation.