The Repentance of the Thief: Between Returning the Money and Giving It in Charity
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. The questioner says: I used to be a young man who did not care about what is lawful and what is forbidden. Then Allah granted me the preservation of prayer and repentance from sins. Before that, I had stolen a sum of money. What is the ruling? Does repentance forgive it, or is it necessary to return the money?
Answer:
If you know the owner, you must return it to him and ask for his forgiveness. But if you do not know him, you give it in charity with the intention that the reward belongs to the owner.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. The questioner says: I used to be a young man who did not care about what is lawful and what is forbidden. Then Allah granted me the preservation of prayer and repentance from sins. Before that, I had stolen a sum of money. What is the ruling? Does repentance forgive it, or is it necessary to return the money?
Answer:
If you know the owner, you must return it to him and ask for his forgiveness. But if you do not know him, you give it in charity with the intention that the reward belongs to the owner.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3436/2489] توبة السارق بين رد المال والتصدق به - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.