Chapter: The Ruling on Entrusted Merchandise
Entrusted merchandise follows the same rule as a deposit: the one who receives it bears no liability unless he oversteps the limits or departs from the instructions given to him—in which case he becomes liable. Because the person entrusted with such goods is, in effect, an agent, whatever has already been stated in the chapter on agency suffices and need not be repeated here.
If someone hands him an article to deliver to another person, or entrusts him with money to convey to his family or to someone else, and the bearer claims to have delivered it while the intended recipient denies receipt, the bearer is liable unless he can produce proof of delivery. This applies whether the item is to be delivered nearby or far away, even if it is a charitable donation, for handing it over without witnesses shows poor judgment and negligence.
Mālik and some of his associates differ regarding a man who is given coins to give in charity. The settled view of his school is that, if the charity is for unspecified recipients, his word is accepted; but if it is earmarked for particular needy individuals, he is liable unless he brings witnesses.
When a man is entrusted with capital to purchase a specific item—or an item left to his discretion—and then buys something other than what he was told, the owner of the capital has a choice: he may take the item the agent acquired with his money, or he may instead hold the agent liable for the amount he received.
If a person is entrusted with funds, told to buy a certain commodity, but buys something else and profits from it, then uses those funds to buy yet another commodity against instructions, and that second commodity is destroyed, he is liable both for the original capital he received and for the profit he had made.
Should the funds return to cash form after his act of overstepping, and that cash is then lost while still intact, he incurs no liability. Likewise, if—after overstepping—he goes on to buy the very item he had first been ordered to purchase and that item is later destroyed, he is not liable.
If someone is entrusted with goods to deliver to a man in another town and dies before reaching that town, and the goods cannot be found, the value of those goods becomes a debt on his estate.