The Ruling on Working in Legal Practice
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Your Eminence the Shaykh, I graduated from the Faculty of Law and did not work as a lawyer, O Kamal. But there are those who criticize me and say, "You can defend the oppressed Muslims, both men and women, in the prisons and detention centers." What is the response to these people?
The Shaykh:
Advocacy is permissible, and agency in advocacy is permissible, but on the condition that it is in the path of truth; one does not advocate for falsehood. If it is in the path of truth, it is permissible for a person to be appointed as an agent for another in litigation and in demanding legal rights. Agency is not a problem, and it is advocacy. However, if he advocates for falsehood just to take the money, whether in a matter of truth or falsehood, this is forbidden for him, whether he graduated from the Faculty of Law or the Faculty of Sharia. Everyone must be bound by truth in his pursuit and his litigation, and bound by what is lawful. If he knows that a matter is false, he does not litigate it, he does not claim it, and he does not help its people. Rather, he is an advocate and an agent only in what Allah has made lawful and what Allah has prescribed. If he knows that his client and the one who appointed him is litigating in falsehood, he does not follow him in that, he does not obey him in that, and he does not act as his agent in that; because in that case, he would be assisting in sin and transgression, and he would be a wrongdoer. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.
The questioner:
Even if this law is a man-made law, he does not assist; that is, he does not assist, as a large number of people do.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible for him to assist, neither in the law nor in what is prescribed, unless it is in a matter of truth. Even in the Sharia courts, if he knows that the plaintiff is claiming falsehood, he does not assist, even at the Sharia court; he stands against him.
He says: Your Eminence the Shaykh, I graduated from the Faculty of Law and did not work as a lawyer, O Kamal. But there are those who criticize me and say, "You can defend the oppressed Muslims, both men and women, in the prisons and detention centers." What is the response to these people?
The Shaykh:
Advocacy is permissible, and agency in advocacy is permissible, but on the condition that it is in the path of truth; one does not advocate for falsehood. If it is in the path of truth, it is permissible for a person to be appointed as an agent for another in litigation and in demanding legal rights. Agency is not a problem, and it is advocacy. However, if he advocates for falsehood just to take the money, whether in a matter of truth or falsehood, this is forbidden for him, whether he graduated from the Faculty of Law or the Faculty of Sharia. Everyone must be bound by truth in his pursuit and his litigation, and bound by what is lawful. If he knows that a matter is false, he does not litigate it, he does not claim it, and he does not help its people. Rather, he is an advocate and an agent only in what Allah has made lawful and what Allah has prescribed. If he knows that his client and the one who appointed him is litigating in falsehood, he does not follow him in that, he does not obey him in that, and he does not act as his agent in that; because in that case, he would be assisting in sin and transgression, and he would be a wrongdoer. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.
The questioner:
Even if this law is a man-made law, he does not assist; that is, he does not assist, as a large number of people do.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible for him to assist, neither in the law nor in what is prescribed, unless it is in a matter of truth. Even in the Sharia courts, if he knows that the plaintiff is claiming falsehood, he does not assist, even at the Sharia court; he stands against him.
Source
فتاوى الحج 1410 هـ - 17-أخرى — archive.org (29:46)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.