The Difference Between Usurpation and Theft
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the difference between usurpation and theft?
Answer:
Usurpation is taking possession of property by force, while theft is taking property secretly. Theft comes from the word for secrecy, and it is taking property secretly while its owner is aware of it, with the owner having secured and stored it. Then someone comes and breaks the security and takes it secretly; this is theft. As for usurpation, it is taking possession openly, meaning publicly, asserting authority over another person's property and preventing him from disposing of it. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the difference between usurpation and theft?
Answer:
Usurpation is taking possession of property by force, while theft is taking property secretly. Theft comes from the word for secrecy, and it is taking property secretly while its owner is aware of it, with the owner having secured and stored it. Then someone comes and breaks the security and takes it secretly; this is theft. As for usurpation, it is taking possession openly, meaning publicly, asserting authority over another person's property and preventing him from disposing of it. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب العارية — islamhouse.com (52:19)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.