Is the thief excused if he returns the money to its owner?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : That is, a man saw a thief stealing money, so he went to the owner of the money and gave him the stolen money. Is the thief excused from the punishment?
The Shaykh : With regard to the right of Allah.
The questioner : Our right and our right.
The Shaykh : If the one from whom it was stolen brings it to court, he may not bring it if his money is returned to him. If he says, "I saw so-and-so stealing from your house, and this is compensation for the theft,"
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : No, I do not hear of this, nor do I see anything like this. Rather, the situation of the thief is examined. If the thief is seen to have stolen this house, and it was not found, and no one spoke to him about it, he steals the second house a second time. This is what should be done.
The Shaykh : With regard to the right of Allah.
The questioner : Our right and our right.
The Shaykh : If the one from whom it was stolen brings it to court, he may not bring it if his money is returned to him. If he says, "I saw so-and-so stealing from your house, and this is compensation for the theft,"
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : No, I do not hear of this, nor do I see anything like this. Rather, the situation of the thief is examined. If the thief is seen to have stolen this house, and it was not found, and no one spoke to him about it, he steals the second house a second time. This is what should be done.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 3483 - 4600 لو رأى سارق يسرق مالاً فذهب إلى المسروق منه وأعطاه المال وستر على السارق...؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.