for committing the prohibited act, not for treachery and injustice. This discussion is connected to the rulings governing other invalid contracts and what is received under them.
He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:
A man commissioned a book to be copied and gilded, paid the fee, received the book, bound it, and took it away for forty days. He then brought it back to the craftsman who had copied and gilded it and said, “Give me back the fee you received from me, for I am only an intermediary.” May he compel the craftsman to take it back and refund the fee he paid?
He replied:
If he hired him to perform work for which hiring is permissible, and paid him his fee upon completion of the work, the craftsman is not obliged to refund it. Indeed, if the intermediary did not name his principal in the hiring contract, he is undoubtedly liable for the fee.
If he did name his principal, is he still liable for the fee? There are two opinions, both reported from Imam Ahmad. Even if he had not paid the fee, the worker would have been entitled to demand it from him. What, then, if he has already paid it? Moreover, unless he paid the fee from his principal’s funds, the agent is entitled to recover from the principal the fee he paid on his behalf. And Allah knows best.