Is it permissible to purchase goods that are suspected or possibly stolen, such as goods coming from India, for example?

Eid Abbasi : Is it permissible to purchase goods... such as goods coming from India, for example?

The Shaykh : The answer in a case like this is: mere possibility does not establish anything. A person must examine his own conscience: is the truth... a possibility, or is it the preponderant probability?
The answer is: Islamic legal rulings are based on the preponderant probability. If the preponderant probability is established, the ruling applies; otherwise, it does not. If the buyer is of the preponderant opinion that these goods are stolen for the same reason... their price, then in that case, it is not permissible for him to buy these goods, nor to assist in wrongdoing. However, if he does not have a preponderant opinion, and it is merely, as he said, a possibility—though I believe that describing it as a possibility here is not a precise expression regarding the reality—but if the reality in the person's mind is merely a possibility, then possibility does not change the ruling... with people based on the presumption of innocence, and on the basis that any trade in the market is purchased through lawful means. If you are of the preponderant opinion that a particular purchase is stolen, usurped, or something similar, then in that case, stay away from it. But as for mere possibility, possibility in this case does not make the lawful forbidden.