Is it permissible for a person to take a right he has with another without the other’s knowledge?

Question : A man hired a worker. He hired a worker, and the worker did the job, and the period of hire ended, and the worker began to demand payment from this man, meaning the hirer, but the hirer delays him, he delays him. So the worker was able to take some of his money. Does he take it or not?

Answer : It is not reasonable, correct, because the obligation here is by the contract, not by a condition. So he does not take it. This happens often and we are asked about it often. There are some workers whom the hirers delay, and the worker is able to take [his money], because he brings watermelons, fodder, and other agricultural produce and sells them in the market. He is able to take; if he sells, for example, for a thousand, he takes a hundred, and the other does not know. So we say: No, do not take it, just as the wage is with him. We say: Even if it is [with him], do not take it.
Because this reason is not an apparent reason. And if the door were opened, every person could do it and say, "I have a right against you," and much evil would result from this. Or the one who owes the right knows that he took from his money without his knowledge, and there would arise between them fighting and disputes whose harm is unknown to Allah the Exalted. So it is excepted from this, from our saying, "Return the trust to the one who concealed it from you, and do not fear the one who betrayed you," what? What is not obligatory by the Shari'ah in the right of the guest, the maintenance of the wife, the maintenance of the children, and the like. These people are allowed to take without the knowledge of their companion.