Article 93: Every person has the right to appoint whomsoever he wishes as a proxy (Wakeel) for oneself in the disputes and defence, irrespective of whether he is Muslim or not, male or female. There is no distinction in this matter between the commissioner and the proxy. The proxy is permitted to be appointed for a fee according to the terms agreed upon with the commissioner.
This article explains the permission of proxy in disputes, and its evidence is the evidence for the granting of proxy, since it is general and encompasses every type of proxy. Proxy is confirmed by the Sunnah; it is narrated by Abu Dawud with its chain of narration that Jaber Bin Abdullah said:
«أَرَدْتُ الْخُرُوجَ إِلَى خَيْبَرَ، فَأَتَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ فَسَلَّمْتُ عَلَيْهِ وَقُلْتُ لَهُ: إِنِّي أَرَدْتُ الْخُرُوجَ إِلَى خَـيْـبَرَ، فَقَالَ: إِذَا أَتَيْتَ وَكِيلِي فَخُذْ مِنْهُ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ وَسْقًا، فَإِنِ ابْتَغَى مِنْكَ آيَةً فَضَعْ يَدَكَ عَلَى تَرْقُوَتِهِ»
“I wanted to go out to Khaybar, so I went to the Messenger of Allah and gave him a greeting and said: I am leaving. He said: ‘Go to my agent, and take fifteen loads from him. If he asks for a token from you, place your hand upon his collarbone.” (authenticated by Al-Hafiz in Al-Talkhis), and it is narrated from him that he gave proxy to Abu Rafi’ regarding the acceptance of marriage to Maymunah; Ahmad reported in Al-Musnad from Abu Rafi’:
«أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم تزوج ميمونة حلالا وبنى بها حلالا وكنت الرسول بينهما»
“The Messenger of Allah married Maymuna, and I was the messenger between them”. So, anything that the person’s free conduct in is considered valid, and can be deputised, can be given as a proxy, whether male or female, Muslim or disbeliever. Also, the issue of proxy in disputes is itself confirmed by the Ijma’ of the companions, since Ali (ra) gave a proxy to Uqayl before Abu Bakr (ra) and said:
ما قُضِيَ له فلي وما قُضِيَ عليه فعلَيَّ
“Whatever is ruled for him is for me, and whatever is ruled upon him is upon me”, and he appointed Abdullah Bin Jafar as a proxy to ‘Uthman (ra) and said “disputes have perils (Quhms) and the devil attends them, and I hate to attend”. This was mentioned by Ibn Qudamah in Al-Mughni and he said “these stories have spread since they are famous and no one mentioned anyone who rejected them”. The meaning of Quhm is destructive. Based upon this, proxy is permitted when requesting and establishing rights, whether the commissioner is present or absent at the judgement, healthy or sick, and the agreement of the disputing party is not required since it is a right in which deputising is permitted without any restrictions irrespective of whether the disputing party agreed or not.
It is permitted for the proxy to be appointed for a fee, since it is a permitted type of employment, as employment is general and encompasses every issue including deputising. Because the definition of employment is a contract upon an exchange of a service for compensation and this applies to the service of proxy and so the definition applies to it. So if the appointment of proxy is done for a fee, then the proxy is entitled to the fee from the commissioner according to the terms that they are both content with. However, it is imperative that a contract of employment is put into effect and that both of them agree upon it in order for him to be entitled to the fee, because the appointment of proxy itself is a contract which does not necessitate any fee, but an agreed fee upon the contract is what would necessitate it. Accordingly, it is imperative that there is a contract of employment upon the proxy along with the contract of appointing the proxy. Both appointment of proxy and taking fee are permitted without restriction, irrespective of whether the person takes it as a profession with which he makes his living out of or not, and due to this the work of what is known today as lawyers and barristers is considered valid in terms of being valid to take a fee for it, but their seeking judgement from Kufr laws to confirm the truth from the falsehood is what is not permitted. Rather the truth is what Islam confirmed as the truth, and the falsehood is what it made false, and there is no value for what is different from that even if the rules of Kufr confirmed it.