Islamic Fiqh > Companies and leases > Wakala (agency mandate)
Wakala: the mandate to do what one can do oneself, its pillars, conditions, and what ends it.
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Updated on 07 September 2026 at 3:44 PM
Wakala: entrusting to another an act that admits delegation (selling, buying, concluding, representing). Lawful by consensus (Ibn Qudamah; Ibn Hazm: sale, purchase, safekeeping, collecting and paying rights; Ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Khalil, al-Juwayni). Evidence: the Prophet gave Hakim ibn Hizam a dinar to buy him a sacrificial animal (al-Bukhari 3443); he told Jabir heading to Khaybar: "when you come to my agent, take from him fifteen wasq" (Abu Dawud 3632, ad-Daraqutni 4304); he sent zakat collectors, some receiving a share (al-Bukhari 1429, Muslim 1832).
The object of the mandate must be present and owned by the principal: no mandate to divorce a future wife, sell property not yet owned, or free a slave not yet owned (soundest Shafi'i view, the Hanbali madhhab); the opposing view: ownership at the moment of the act suffices. The object must be known: the general mandate ("buy what you wish") stands by Hanafi istihsan on the Prophet's gesture toward Hakim; a mandate on a type of many varieties ("a garment", "a house") requires specifying the type or the price (Hanafis), the Hanbalis requiring type and price. The agent does not exceed his mandate: agreement of the four schools; overstepping carries liability (the Hanbalis: an agent who wears the cloth consigned for sale guarantees it), buying for another with one's own money being valid for the agent (Shafi'is) or void (Hanbalis).
Wakala stands with a known ju'l (the Prophet's collectors received a share) or without pay: Unays, Urwa, Amr and Abu Rafi' were mandated without wages.
The principal may revoke; the Hanafis, the Maliki madhhab, one Shafi'i view and a version of Ahmad require the agent's knowledge for revocation to take effect, the act done before notice standing; the Malikis add that publicized revocation takes effect even unheard, save an excuse for the silence. Wakala ends by the death of either party and by madness.
Bank or business power of attorney: described object, clear limits, proper notice; the agent answers for his oversteps, not for hazards.