What is required of one who took something thinking it had no owner, and it later turned out that the thing had an owner?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: I took firewood or a pile of wood from the desert, and there was no one there. After years, it turned out that the firewood had an owner, but I do not know how much firewood it was, because I used it in several jobs. What must I do?
Answer:
You must go back to the owner of the firewood or the wood. You give him the value of the wood. Or he forgives you. This is necessary: either you give him the value, estimating it and giving it to him, or he forgives you for it if it is known. If the owner of the wood is not known, estimate its value and give it in charity, intending the reward for its owner. Yes.
He says: I took firewood or a pile of wood from the desert, and there was no one there. After years, it turned out that the firewood had an owner, but I do not know how much firewood it was, because I used it in several jobs. What must I do?
Answer:
You must go back to the owner of the firewood or the wood. You give him the value of the wood. Or he forgives you. This is necessary: either you give him the value, estimating it and giving it to him, or he forgives you for it if it is known. If the owner of the wood is not known, estimate its value and give it in charity, intending the reward for its owner. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ماذا يجب على من أخذ شيئًا ظنًّا منه أنه ليس له مالك، ثم تبين أن لذلك الشيء صاحب بعد ذلك؟ #فتاوى — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.