Muhtasib

A muḥtasib (Arabic: محتسب, from the root حسبة ḥisbah, or "accountability"^[1]) was "a holder of the office of al-hisbah in classical Islamic administrations", according to Oxford Islamic Studies.^[2] Also called ‘amil al-suq or sahib al-suq,^[3] the muḥtasib was a supervisor of bazaars and trade, the inspector of public places and behavior in towns in the medieval Islamic countries, appointed by the sultan, imam, or other political authority. His duty was to ensure that public business was conducted in accordance with the law of sharia.

Hisbah, the office and root of muḥtasib, is an Islamic doctrine referring to "enjoining good and forbidding wrong" of shariah law, and "by extension, to the maintenance of public law and order and supervising market transactions".^[4] But whether muḥtasibs devoted themselves to hisbah frequently or vigorously in every region of the Muslim world, or focused instead on the orderly function of the marketplace, regulating weights, money, prices (though sometimes collecting bribes), is disputed.^[5]