Returning money taken from people whose owners are unknown
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This question says: There is a person who used to take people's money without their knowledge, without them knowing. Then Allah granted him wealth, and he wanted to return it to them, but he does not know where they are. His question is: What should he do with this money? Should he give it in charity on their behalf?
Answer:
He is required to do everything possible to return their money to them or to seek their forgiveness. If he is unable to do so, he should give it in charity on their behalf.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This question says: There is a person who used to take people's money without their knowledge, without them knowing. Then Allah granted him wealth, and he wanted to return it to them, but he does not know where they are. His question is: What should he do with this money? Should he give it in charity on their behalf?
Answer:
He is required to do everything possible to return their money to them or to seek their forgiveness. If he is unable to do so, he should give it in charity on their behalf.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، ذكر الآثار عن تابعي التابعين ومن بعدهم — islamhouse.com (1:03:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.