653. Working As A Lawyer

By Asma Bint Shameem

Working as a lawyer or attorney is not prohibited in and of itself. In fact it is the Islaamic thing to do to stand up for the oppressed and get people their rights. 

Even if a person lives in a non Muslim country which is not ruled by the laws of the Sharee’ah, it is still permissible to work as a lawyer if the *intention* is to attain rights of the people and prevent wrong. 

The wronged or oppressed person obviously *needs* to refer to these laws in order to attain his rights. 

So a lawyer can help such people out. 

Otherwise people would wrong one another with no consequences and the oppressed would have no voice or rights. 

Here’s what the scholars said:

Shaikh Ibn Baaz said:

“I do not know of anything wrong with working as a lawyer, because it is acting as a person’s representative in claims and defence, so long as the lawyer seeks to do what is right and does not deliberately tell lies, as applies to all cases of representing or acting on behalf of others.”

(Fataawa Islamiyyah 3/5050). 

And Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan said: 

“Undoubtedly there is nothing wrong with one person acting on behalf of another in cases of dispute, but it depends on the type of dispute: 

1. If the case is well founded and the representative is basing his case on facts that he knows, and there is no perjury, lying or trickery involved, and he is representing the person in order to present his proof and evidence as to the truth of his claim or to defend him, there is nothing wrong with that.

2. But if the dispute involves some false claim or speaking on behalf of someone who is in the wrong, then this is not permissible. 

Allaah said to His Prophet Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam:

“so be not a pleader for the treacherous” [al-Nisa’ 4:105]. 

We all know that if the case is a just one and he does not use any kind of lying or perjury, then there is nothing wrong with that, especially if the person is weak and cannot defend himself or establish his claim to what is his right. Appointing someone who is stronger than him to represent him is permitted in sharee’ah. 

Allaah says: 

“But if the debtor is of poor understanding, or weak, or is unable to dictate for himself, then let his guardian dictate in justice” [al-Baqarah 2:282]. 

Acting on behalf of a weak person in order to ensure that he gets what is rightfully his or to ward off wrongdoing from him is a good thing. 

But if it is other than that, i.e., helping a person who is in the wrong or defending wrongdoing or using false evidence, and the deputy or representative knows that the case is basically wrong, such as representing a person with regard to something haraam such as riba, then it is not permissible. 

It is not permissible for a Muslim to act as a deputy or representative with regard to falsehood or to act as a lawyer in transactions that involve riba, because then he is helping in the consumption of riba and so the curse applies to him.”

(Al-Muntaqa min Fataawa al-Fawzaan 3/288, 289). 

And Allaah knows best.