Wakalah
Wakalah is one person authorizing another to act on their behalf in a lawful matter, such as a sale or a marriage.
What it means for me: You do not have to be present for everything done in your name. Someone you trust can sign a lease, receive a payment, or complete a purchase for you. Either side can normally end the arrangement, and it also ends if either party dies.
Example: A man traveling abroad gives his brother wakalah to sell his car while he is away. The brother signs the paperwork and hands over the keys; the sale is valid as if the traveler made it himself.
Do not confuse with: *Kafalah*, standing surety for someone else's debt or duty. Wakalah lets someone act in your place; a guarantee makes someone else answerable alongside you, not instead of you. This financial sense of the word differs from its child-fostering sense.
If scholars differ: Jurists generally treat wakalah as an arrangement either party may cancel at will. They differ on whether a paid agency binds more tightly than an unpaid one. They also differ on whether an agent may appoint someone else to the task without permission.
See the term in context
Is it permissible to adopt Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah’s view that the marriage contract is valid even if explicit agency (wakalah) is not verbally expressed, so long as the husband is pleased and circumstantial evidence indicates his consent?
Authorization is valid with any expression that indicates it, and a specific wording is not required for it. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, anything that indicates consent is sufficient, because customary permission is…
What is an agency (wakalah)? And is the owner of the money sinful if the agent (wakeel) is unable to fulfill the condition of investing the money with a specified increase, or must he accept the loss?
Agency (wikalah) is the authorization by one person for another to perform on their behalf an act that is legally permissible to delegate during their lifetime. As for giving money to someone to trade with it, with the…
Is a general power of attorney permissible, or is a specific power of attorney required; and is an informal power of attorney permissible, or is a formal power of attorney stipulated?
Agency (Al-Wakalah) is permissible according to the Qur’an, Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. It means delegating an action to another. There is no disagreement regarding the permissibility of a special agency…
Questions that use it
Is the mediation between a financier and a contractor, whereby the mediator takes money from the financier and gives it to the contractor to obtain a known monthly profit from it (such as 5,0 for every share of 100,0), and then divides this profit with the financier, with the financier's knowledge that the mediator is profiting from these funds, permissible in Islamic law?
Is it obligatory to return the money to my father after I took it for myself instead of giving it to an orphan, or is repentance sufficient?
What is the ruling on a "misyar" marriage that was contracted in the presence of two witnesses and with the wife's代理 (wakala) for her husband on her behalf, and is the wife's presence required?