Buyers - in contracts based upon the quality of goods offered - who discover that they have been defrauded can annul the contract and demand full refund of the purchase price. The liability for all loss, harm or compensation that results from deception rests with the perpetrators of any deceit.

Muslims are exhorted to remain honest and to shun deceit and illegal activities. As we saw earlier, ends do not justify means (see chapter 14) and none are permitted to employ dishonest measures to attain their objectives.

The Basis Of This Principle

From Ahadith

1. Al-Kulayni reports via an authentic chain of narration that Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) was asked by a man - who had married a lady without having been told that she was blind in one eye - how he could have this situation redressed. The Imam's response was that as the marriage had already been consummated, the lady was entitled to keep her dowry, but that the questioner was justified in demanding redress from her father, who had deceived him by not disclosing his daughter's impediment.1

It is the tradition in many Arab societies that only the ladies of the groom's family see the prospective bride prior to a marriage. Despite this, many authentic ahadith verify that couples are permitted to meet each other before they enter into what is intended to be a lifelong partnership.

2. Imam al-Baqir (‘a) said, 'If testimony in court results in fines, witnesses who later withdraw their testimony are required to recompense those who were sentenced on the strength of their evidence.'2

Those who offer false testimony are liable for the consequences of their actions.

3. Shaykh Al-Tusi reports, via an authentic chain of narration, that when Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) was asked about people who perjured themselves in court, his response was that they remained liable for all the losses that occur as the result of their perjury.3

Common Usage

All legal systems acknowledge deception to be a criminal act and that those who practise it must bear the consequences of their actions.

Estate agents who are aware of the defects and deficiencies of a property are required to disclose that information to prospective buyers. If they deceive purchasers by non-disclosure, they become liable to claims for compensation. This applies equally to agents' solicitors who do not disclose such facts, or fail to undertake customary 'searches' prior to the completion of contracts.

Applications Of This Principle

Vis-A-Vis Marriage Contracts

The most common way for marriages to end is divorce. However, in certain circumstances a marriage may be terminated by annulment - a process by which the marriage contract is declared null and void by means of a legal ruling that the marriage was never a true marriage and thus never took place. Clearly the conditions for annulment do not apply in cases of divorce.

Certain defects entitle one of the spouses to have their marriage annulled.

These are as follows:

1. Impotence

Impotence is a medically significant disorder that renders a man unable to perform sexual intercourse. However, Imamiyah fiqh states that a wife's right to have a marriage annulled has not been ascertained until the husband is proven to be incapable of performing sexual intercourse with any other woman. For in the way that blindness is the inability to see anything, impotence is the utter inability to perform any act of sexual intercourse.

At the time of marriage, a man is presumed to be aware of his ability or inability to acquire and maintain penile erection for penetrative intercourse.

If he marries without declaring such a deficiency to his bride, she is entitled to have the marriage annulled. The details of how impotence may be proven, and the conditions for giving a man the opportunity to have such an abnormality treated, are dealt with in the books of Islamic jurisprudence.

2. Insanity

Those who intend to spend their lives together need to be aware of their prospective partner's qualities and failings. People who suffer from mental illnesses patently need to share that with their prospective partner. For, if such illness is not curable, it is highly probable that the bonds of marriage will be severed - a circumstance catered for by Islamic jurisprudence.

3. Leprosy and incurable diseases

Leprosy and leucoderma are defects that entitle either party to seek an annulment of their marriage.

Leucoderma must have existed prior to the marriage and not have been disclosed before it if annulment is to be a valid option. Leprosy on the other hand is such an exceedingly contagious disease that every precaution needs to be taken to avoid it being passed to others.

4. Deformities such as untreatable vaginal obstruction

The non-disclosure of such an abnormality provides valid grounds for a husband to appeal for an annulment of the marriage. Despite circumstances of this kind, a newly wed husband may be prepared to accept his wife's condition and remain with her.

5. Defects or deficiencies that have not been disclosed

An agreement to marry, based upon fictitious merits or undisclosed circumstances, entitles the party that has been misled to seek annulment of the marriage on grounds of them having been deceived. For example: if a man purports to be a university graduate when he is not, or claims to be a practising Muslim when he is not, such claims have a bearing on his acceptability as a marriage partner, and his deceived spouse is entitled to withdraw her consent to marry him.

Vis-A-Vis Commerce And Trade

We have discussed the liability for any deficiencies regarding commerce and trade under principle 9 (Liability for damage).

• 1. Al-Kafi Vol. 5, p. 406.
• 2. Al-Kafi Vol. 7, p. 383.
• 3. Wasa'il al Shi’ah Vol. 27, p. 327.