Selling a book that has no exclusive agent

A question on importing a medical book already sold through an agent, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that selling it is permissible if there is no exclusive agency, but working to break an existing exclusive agency is forbidden. ¹

The questioner said a medical book is sold on the market through an agent, but the publisher told him the book has no exclusive agent; he asked whether he may sell it, and whether that counts as selling over another's sale or as fair competition. ¹

The Department answered that sale rests on mutual consent, and the question has two cases. ¹ In the first, the supplier and the first importer have no exclusive-agency agreement, so there is no objection to contracting with the same supplier to import and sell its goods, even at a different price from the first importer. ¹ In the second, the first importer holds an exclusive agency and the second persuades the supplier to cancel that contract and sign with him; this is forbidden because it sows enmity among Muslims, and it cited the hadith forbidding people to sell over one another's sales. ¹ It concluded that since there is no exclusive-agency agreement, as in the question, the second importer may bring in the book and sell it at the price he sees fit. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3837, dated 3 December 2023. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.