The Ruling on Giving in Charity with People’s Unknown Money
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
I have money belonging to others, but as the years have passed, I no longer know who the owners of this money are. Should I give it away in charity on their behalf?
Answer:
This money, as you mentioned, consists of debts owed to people or deposits held for them. If you know the owners, you should have written documents, or you should ask those around you, perhaps they know the owners of this money. If you make every effort to identify them but are unable to reach them, then you give this money in charity with the intention that the reward belongs to them, that the reward for it is theirs, and you thereby rid yourself of the liability. If one of them comes to you later, you inform him and give him the choice: either he accepts the charity and receives the reward, or you pay him his right and the reward for the charity is yours. Yes.
I have money belonging to others, but as the years have passed, I no longer know who the owners of this money are. Should I give it away in charity on their behalf?
Answer:
This money, as you mentioned, consists of debts owed to people or deposits held for them. If you know the owners, you should have written documents, or you should ask those around you, perhaps they know the owners of this money. If you make every effort to identify them but are unable to reach them, then you give this money in charity with the intention that the reward belongs to them, that the reward for it is theirs, and you thereby rid yourself of the liability. If one of them comes to you later, you inform him and give him the choice: either he accepts the charity and receives the reward, or you pay him his right and the reward for the charity is yours. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الواجب على مَن ائتمنه بعض الناس على أموال ثم بمرور السنين لم يعد يعرف مَن هم أصحاب هذه الأموال؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.