Economic, Jurisprudential Analysis of Speculation

Abstract

A behavior common in financial markets is speculation. In fact, regarding the development of capital markets in Iran, and referring to the importance of the issue for investors, the present study deals with providing an economic, jurisprudential analysis of speculation on the basis of the two following criteria, including fair price and la darar principle. Therefore, first we start the study by reviewing the prevalent definitions of speculation and go on to investigate different kinds of speculation occurring in goods, foreign exchange and shares markets; then, the study evaluates the most important views of scholars about the issue. Then, referring to the consensus of scholars about some religiously prohibited speculations, we try to enumerate the evidence of such speculations; and eventually, in order to determine the amount to which other forms of speculation are consistent with Islamic foundations, we, through investigating the effects of speculation on goods markets, give some examples of speculation, the ones that have not conformed the criterion of rightful price, or those having led to chaos in markets, considering them as being against the teachings of Islam religion.

Keywords

• speculation
• financial market
• la darar(no harm) principle
• fair price