Chapter: The Agent’s Trustworthiness and the Statements That Are Accepted from Him

An agent is deemed a trustee; no liability rests upon him for property placed in his care unless the loss is caused by his own hand, or comes about through his negligence or deliberate wrongdoing. Likewise, he remains a trustee—incurring no liability—when returning the entrusted item, or for the price of something he was instructed to sell, provided he maintains that he returned the item to the person who gave it to him and handed the price to the one who ordered the sale. He is not required to take an oath so long as he is not under suspicion.

This, according to Mālik, applies when the matter is solely between you and your own agent. If, however, you ordered him to hand the goods over to a third party, he must furnish proof that he has delivered what he was told to deliver. The evidence for this is Allah’s command to the guardians: “…and when you hand over their property to them, call witnesses over them” (Qur’an 4:6). Allah knows best—those orphans are not the same people who first entrusted the guardians with that property.

A courier functions as a trustworthy agent in so far as clearing himself of personal liability: his word is accepted if he claims that the item has perished while in his possession. He is not, however, believed in regard to clearing the person from whom he was told to collect, if he alleges