Giving charity with the value of a lost item
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 12344 )
Q: I bought a small car from a colleague at work. After a while, I opened the trunk in the car and found a gold belt wrapped in a piece of cloth. I asked my family, and they said it was not our right. So I went to the owner of the car from whom I bought it, and he said: I have no knowledge of this, and it is not my right. I am aware that I am the third owner of the car. After this, I went to the gold market with the belt and sold it for six hundred riyals. What should I do with that money? Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good, and may He guide you in the path of serving the general public.
A: If the matter is as you described, then you should give charity with the value of the gold belt to the poor, with the intention that it belongs to its owner. If its owner comes one day, inform him of what you did. If he is satisfied, that is fine; otherwise, the charity is yours, and you pay
him the value of the belt.
Q: I bought a small car from a colleague at work. After a while, I opened the trunk in the car and found a gold belt wrapped in a piece of cloth. I asked my family, and they said it was not our right. So I went to the owner of the car from whom I bought it, and he said: I have no knowledge of this, and it is not my right. I am aware that I am the third owner of the car. After this, I went to the gold market with the belt and sold it for six hundred riyals. What should I do with that money? Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good, and may He guide you in the path of serving the general public.
A: If the matter is as you described, then you should give charity with the value of the gold belt to the poor, with the intention that it belongs to its owner. If its owner comes one day, inform him of what you did. If he is satisfied, that is fine; otherwise, the charity is yours, and you pay
him the value of the belt.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.