The ruling on accepting a gift intended for someone else
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : If it is given to him and he returns it to the Bayt al-Mal of the Muslims, is there any issue with that?
Answer : By returning it to the Bayt al-Mal, the sin is lifted from him, but the original act of taking it is forbidden. First, because this may lead to people having a bad opinion of him. Second, because this may open the door for others to follow his example. Third, because it is an injustice to the one who gave the gift; it is an injustice to the giver. The giver gave it to you, not to the Bayt al-Mal. He did not give it to you so that you would return it to the Bayt al-Mal; he gave it to you for you. So you took it contrary to his intention.
Answer : By returning it to the Bayt al-Mal, the sin is lifted from him, but the original act of taking it is forbidden. First, because this may lead to people having a bad opinion of him. Second, because this may open the door for others to follow his example. Third, because it is an injustice to the one who gave the gift; it is an injustice to the giver. The giver gave it to you, not to the Bayt al-Mal. He did not give it to you so that you would return it to the Bayt al-Mal; he gave it to you for you. So you took it contrary to his intention.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 3239 - 4600 هل ما يفعله بعض الناس من أنه يقبل الهدية من موظفيه أو عماله أو طلابه ثم...؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.