Determining ownership when one person asks another to hand over an object, but the second person takes it for himself instead.

Primary text

If one person says to his companion, 'Hand it to me' (nawilnihi), and the companion takes possession of the object, the determining factor is the intention (niyyah) of the person taking it. If he intended to take it for himself, then he has the greater right, similar to the situation where no request to hand it over was made. If he intended to hand it over to the requester, then the object belongs to the requester, because the taker acted with the intention of acting as the requester's deputy (niyabah), resembling a situation where one is appointed as an agent to obtain something permissible (mubah).