Answered by SunniPath Answer Service Team
My question concerns the return of ill-gotten property. During my youth I did many stupid things. One of these things included theft of various kinds. Now that I have come of age, I would like to know how I can remedy the infractions. Here are the different situations:
1) I found an anonymous credit card number off a receipt. I used it to place a personal announcement in the newspaper. I do not know whose credit card number it was. How do I repay/reimburse the amount of money I charged to this credit card? I am certain that the person whose credit card it is did not have to pay out of his pocket. However, the cost was incurred by the credit card company. I am not aware of which credit card company it is.
2) I stole a few rechargeable battery packs from a department store about 10 years ago. I still have the batteries, and the store is still in business. How should I reimburse them? Anonymously leave/mail money to the store? Can I keep the batteries after paying their cost or should I throw them away?
3) I stole a step ladder from this carnival a very long time ago. I still have the ladder. The carnival was near my home temporarily. I do not have any idea where it is anymore. What should I do with the ladder? I also stole a video game from there. I had discarded it a very long time ago.
Wa Alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate
Based on what Sidi Faraz previously answered a question on what to do when one does not know who one stole from or how to find them:
1. You have to take all reasonable means possible to figure out who the money was stolen from.
2. If you are then sure of some of those people, you would have to pay them. Use your reasonable yet conservative judgment as to how much you stole from them.
3. If there are still unaccounted-for thefts, then:
The default would have been to actually return it to its rightful owners. Given that this is not possible, in the given case, we are legally obliged to effectively return it to them by giving it away in charity, so that even though their money does not go back to its rightful owner(s) its benefit does in the form of the benefit of charity given on their behalf.
It is only charity, however, with regards to the actual owners of the money. When you give this money away, you can only intend to get rid of unlawful filthy money from your holding, while repenting and seeking Allah’s forgiveness for disobeying Him in a matter He deems most hateful. To seek good’ or reward when one gets rid of this money would be a serious sin in itself, the fuqaha tell us.
One may either give this money to those deserving of zakat (=the poor and needy), or to general charities. The first is superior, as many Hanafi scholars only allow it to be given to it.
As an aside, there is nothing wrong or dubious with accepting such money when it is given to one in charity, because the sin devolved back to the dues person who wrongful engaged in the unlawful transaction and not the actual money one is taking from them itself.
[Sources: al-Hadhr wa’l Ibaha of al-Nahlawi, al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Ibn Abidin’s Radd al-Muhtar, with some details from questions asked of Shaykh Mahmoud Ashraf Usmani, and other scholars]”
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Wassalam,
SunniPath Fiqh Team