Middleman charging a fee in return for intervening on the basis of his status

Firstly:

There is nothing wrong with someone intervening to help you to get a permissible job, so long as his intervention does not deprive someone who is more qualified and more deserving of being appointed to that job, because he has more experience and is more able to do it, or because he applied before you, then they put you ahead of him. Therefore, if that results in someone who is more qualified being deprived of the job, then his intervening is haram, and it is not permissible for you to ask him for help. We have explained the ruling on such intervention in the answer to question no. 26801 .

With regard to giving money to the one who intervenes, that is subject to further discussion:

If he is going to put some effort into looking for a job for you and tell you about job opportunities, then it is permissible to give him something in return for his efforts, as is the case with employment agencies.

But if it will not require any effort on his part, and he is simply going to use his status and position, then this is what the jurists call the price of status or the price for using his status and respectable position. This is a matter concerning which the scholars differed. Some of them are of the view that it is permissible, as may be understood from the words of the Shafa‘is and Hanbalis. Others disallow it, or regard it as disliked (makruh), or say that the ruling depends on the circumstances. And these views are reflected in the Maliki madhhab.

It says in ar-Rawd al-Murbi‘, in the chapter on loans: If he says: “Get a loan of one hundred for me, and you will have ten,” that is valid, because it is in return for using his position and status. End quote.

There is an example of that in Mughni al-Muhtaj (3/53).

It says in al-Insaf (5/134): If he agrees to pay him something for getting him a loan using his position and status, it is valid, because it is in return for using his position and status. End quote.

Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Imam Ahmad said: If he says: “Get me a loan of one hundred from So-and-so, and you will have ten,” there is nothing wrong with that. But if he says: “Act as my guarantor [for a loan from] that person, and you will have one thousand,” that is not permissible.

That is because saying, “Get me a loan and you will have ten” is a payment for doing something permissible, so it is permissible, such as if he were to say: “Build me this wall, and you will have ten.” As for acting as a guarantor, the guarantor is committed to paying off the debt, and if he pays it off, then the one for whom he acted as guarantor will now owe it to him, so the guarantee will have become like a loan, and if he accepts payment, that loan will now be bringing a benefit, so it is not permissible."(Al-Mughni 4/214).

Secondly:

If he has the right to a job or anything else, but he cannot get it except by paying a bribe, it is permissible for him to do that, as we have explained in the answer to question no. 72268 .

We ask Allah to help us and you to obey Him and please Him.

And Allah knows best.