The ruling on one who spends on a lost item with the intention of returning it to its owner
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : If he spent on it and intended… what…
The Shaykh : He returns, he drinks… and we return it to her. Yes, if he spent on it with the intention of returning it, he will get it back, without doubt. But if he intended to give it as a gift, he will not get it back. However, if he did not intend to give it as a gift nor to return it, but only intended to preserve this sheep, for example, then he will get it back. He will get it back because he only spent to preserve the owner’s property.
The questioner : And witnessing.
The Shaykh : From it is evil.
The Shaykh : He returns, he drinks… and we return it to her. Yes, if he spent on it with the intention of returning it, he will get it back, without doubt. But if he intended to give it as a gift, he will not get it back. However, if he did not intend to give it as a gift nor to return it, but only intended to preserve this sheep, for example, then he will get it back. He will get it back because he only spent to preserve the owner’s property.
The questioner : And witnessing.
The Shaykh : From it is evil.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، [5260] حكم من أنفق على اللقطة بنية الرجوع لصاحبها - تعليقات على الكافي لابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.