Book of Agency
In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
May Allah bless our master Muhammad, his family, and his Companions, and grant them peace.
Chapter: How an agency contract is concluded and the scope of the agent’s authority
Every person whose own dealings are legally valid may likewise be appointed as an agent. Agency is of two kinds.
- Restricted agency: whoever is authorised with respect to a particular matter may not move on to anything else, nor exceed the limits set for him in that matter. He may receive the price of whatever he has been ordered to sell unless his principal forbids it; there is no need to say to him, “Take the price,” because permission to sell already includes permission to receive the price.
If someone is commissioned to contract a marriage, he is not thereby an agent to receive the bride-price unless he is separately empowered to do so; this differs from the case of sale.
The agent may not appoint a sub-agent unless his principal explicitly allows it. He is not permitted to reduce the sale price, grant a deferment, or cancel the sale, and he may engage in no transaction other than what is specified for him in the agency contract.
- General (unrestricted) agency: the agent who has been given full discretion may rescind a sale, defer payment, or allow a reduction in the price.