such as when someone intercedes with a ruler on a man’s behalf to have an injustice against him removed, secure his rights, obtain an office he deserves, enlist him among the fighting troops—when he is entitled to this—or obtain for him a share of funds endowed for the poor, jurists, Quran reciters, devout worshippers or others—when he is an eligible beneficiary. In these and similar cases of intercession that help fulfil an obligation or put an end to something forbidden, accepting a gift is likewise impermissible. The giver, however, may offer what will enable him to secure his rights or ward off injustice. This is what has been transmitted from the early generations and the great imams.

Some later jurists permitted this, classifying it under “reward-based contracts.” This contradicts the Sunnah and the statements of the Companions and the imams, and is therefore mistaken. Such work serves the public interest, and undertaking it is either an individual or a collective obligation. If accepting a reward for such work were sanctioned, it would follow that appointments to office and distributions of revenues acquired without fighting, charitable funds and other resources would go to those who paid for them. Likewise, protection from injustice would be afforded to those who paid for it, while those who did not pay would receive neither appointments nor funds nor protection from injustice—even if they were more deserving and more beneficial to the Muslims than those who paid.

The benefit here is not a private benefit to the person making the payment that would justify taking a reward from him, as for recovering a runaway slave or a stray animal. Rather, the benefit is for the public at large—by which I mean the Muslims. Every position must be entrusted to the most suitable person available who is capable of fulfilling its duties. The stipends allotted to fighting men, prayer leaders, callers to prayer and scholars must be given to those most deserving and most beneficial to the Muslims. This is obligatory upon the ruler, and the Muslim community must assist him in it. Thus, taking a reward from a particular individual for this leads to these