In the rapidly expanding world of digital marketing and social media collaborations, intermediaries often find themselves orchestrating deals between major brands and online influencers. A common practice involves a coordinator agreeing to a baseline fee with an influencer—such as £1,000—before negotiating a higher rate, like £2,500, directly with the brand, pocketing the remaining difference as profit. However, questions frequently arise regarding the ethical and religious permissibility of such arrangements, particularly when the content creator remains unaware of the exact figure charged to the corporate sponsor.
Addressing this modern commercial dilemma, prominent Islamic scholar and legal expert Shaykh Faraz Rabbani has provided a detailed analysis grounded in classical jurisprudence. According to Rabbani, the permissibility of keeping the financial difference hinges entirely on the structural nature of the agreement and the role assumed by the intermediary, rather than the mere fact that a profit was made.
The discussion centers on how Islamic law, specifically within the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, categorizes digital promotions and marketing services. Rabbani explains that a promotional campaign is fundamentally a form of work. In classical legal terminology, this is known as hiring for work, or ijara ala al-amal. Under this framework, the individual who formally takes on the job assumes responsibility for the final result, functioning much like a debt holder. The contractor has the legal autonomy to fulfill the obligation personally or delegate the execution to another qualified party, a principle well-established in classical texts such as Al-Marghinani’s foundational legal compendium, al-Hidaya.
This foundational legal concept directly impacts whether an intermediary can ethically retain the surplus margin. Rabbani clarifies that if an individual takes on a promotional contract in their own name and subsequently hires a third-party influencer to perform the work for a lower price, the resulting financial difference rightfully belongs to the intermediary. To illustrate this mechanism, classical jurists frequently cite the example of a craftsman who agrees to sew a garment for a fixed rate, and then hires another artisan to complete the stitching for half that amount. The surplus remains with the primary contractor because they undertook the initial obligation and bore the commercial risk associated with the project. Conversely, had the primary contractor been forced to pay a higher rate to the secondary worker, they would have absorbed the financial loss.
This dynamic differs significantly from the rules governing physical property rentals. While Islamic law dictates that subletting a leased property generally requires the tenant to forgo any extra profit—a principle detailed in Ibn Abidin’s authoritative legal commentary, Radd al-Muhtar—the rules governing service contracts and labor are fundamentally distinct. When an individual takes on professional labor and assumes the accompanying operational risk, the resulting margin belongs to them.
A critical distinction in determining whether such an arrangement is lawful rests on whether the intermediary operates as an independent contractor or merely as a paid agent. Rabbani emphasizes that the actual legal reality of the transaction dictates its ruling, regardless of the terminology used by the parties involved.
If an intermediary negotiates and finalizes the agreement with the corporate brand under their own name, takes legal ownership of the deliverable, personally pays the influencer, and assumes full liability should the campaign fail or encounter complications, they are legally functioning as a contractor. Under this specific structure, the profit margin is entirely theirs, and they are under no obligation to disclose their exact earnings to the influencer.
However, if the intermediary’s role is strictly limited to finding work for the influencer and acting on their direct authorization, they are legally classified as an agent. In Islamic commerce, an agent is strictly prohibited from retaining hidden profits or undisclosed markups. An agent must faithfully transmit the negotiated funds to the principal and accept only the specific commission or fee agreed upon beforehand. As articulated in Article 3 of the Majalla, the Ottoman civil code, legal rulings and descriptions are determined by the underlying facts and intentions rather than mere phrasing or titles.
Furthermore, Rabbani highlights two essential boundaries that must be observed in these transactions. The first involves specific performance clauses. If either the corporate brand or the influencer stipulates that a particular individual must personally execute the content creation, that condition is binding and must be strictly followed. In scenarios where a brand specifically contracts a named influencer, substitution is not permissible, nor can the identity of the actual performer be obscured.
The second boundary concerns absolute honesty in pricing and communication. While an independent contractor is not required to disclose their profit margin to the influencer, they are strictly prohibited from misrepresenting facts to the brand. An intermediary cannot falsely claim to a corporate sponsor that an influencer’s baseline fee is £2,500 if the actual agreed-upon rate is lower. Deception regarding the underlying costs of services violates core ethical standards in commercial dealings.
For professionals operating in the digital marketing space, establishing clear structural frameworks from the outset is essential to maintaining ethical earnings. Rabbani advises that before undertaking any new promotional campaign, intermediaries should ensure that contracts with corporate brands are executed in their own name for a clearly defined price, and that they subsequently contract the influencer directly. By avoiding the role of a traditional agent unless explicitly designated as such, and by ensuring transparency with corporate partners, intermediaries can navigate these commercial arrangements with integrity.
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani is a recognized specialist scholar in Islamic jurisprudence who studied under prominent authorities in Damascus and Amman, including the late theologian Shaykh Adib al-Kallas and Hanafi jurist Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi. In 2007, he returned to Canada to establish SeekersGuidance, an organization dedicated to providing reliable and accessible Islamic education globally. Author of the widely read text Absolute Essentials of Islam, Rabbani has been consistently listed among the 500 most influential Muslims globally by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center since 2011.