A Muslim shopkeeper practically hugged me because, after she totalled up my purchases, I paid the bill. Merchants don’t usually get that emotional at the cash register. But this woman was genuinely relieved that I had paid without complaint. She told me that so many Muslims ask for discounts on their purchases that she can barely cover her own expenses. She told me how much she paid for rent, and the cost of doing business in her location was rather high. But she was just a couple of doors down from a masjid and right next to a halal restaurant. She was in a prime spot for foot traffic from Muslim shoppers. Her proximity to a mosque also was a convenience for Muslims. Yet her Muslim customers were about to run her out of business with their refusal to pay the asking price for her goods.
I know that many immigrant Muslims come from countries where haggling over prices is part of the culture. But once in America, these same Muslims find the American business model is very different: pay the price as marked. Unless there is damage to the merchandise, the merchandise is a sample or floor model, or it is a big-ticket item for which a discount for paying cash is likely, we follow that business model. We pay the price as marked. We don’t bargain with the salespeople in Sears or with the cashier at Kroger. We don’t try to get discounts on stamps at the post office. Certainly all of us born or raised in America know this. So there is no reason for any of us to pretend that the Muslim stores are different. They are not.
We ask for discounts not because of any flaw in the merchandise; but because we, the customers, are Muslim. We have to question our own intentions when we use Islam as a weapon, shaming the shopkeepers into giving us what we want for less. We are supposed to want for our Muslim brothers and sisters what we want for ourselves. What we want for ourselves, apparently, is a discount while we nickel-and-dime our Muslim brothers and sisters that much closer to bankruptcy.
Most of the Muslim businesses in America are small, mom-and-pop operations. They don’t have the financing of big corporations or franchises behind them. They are generally operating on a small profit margin. When we all insist on discounts–in the name of Islam, no less–we take that small profit away from them. Sometimes we even force them to close–and then complain there are no Muslim stores in our area. Paying the amount we’re asked for in a Muslim’s shop should not be a cause for celebration.
