What is the ruling on an employee stealing from the state's funds with the manager's approval?

The questioner : A person asked another person: What is the ruling on stealing from a person's work... any kind of work, especially if this person is an employee of the state? So another person answered that it is permissible for him to take whatever he wants, and that he bears no sin at all. We ask you to clarify this issue for us...?

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
In your question, it seems...

Eid Abbasi : It is not clear.

The Shaykh : It contains, no, it contains two questions or two scenarios; that here, if there is work, especially if it is state work... is that what is intended? Or is the intention state work only?

The questioner : The point is intended whether this person is an employee or not; the important thing is that he steals from this state.

The Shaykh : Stealing from the state only; because your first statement might imply another scenario; that is, a person employed in a large factory belonging to an individual, an individual who is not a state employee, a rich man who has a factory, and he has an employee, so this employee steals from this factory. Is that what you mean in the question?

The questioner : No, this...

The Shaykh : Then the question is specified as an employee of the state, and that the one who answered said that it is permissible to steal from the state.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : We do not doubt that this answer is wrong; because stealing is forbidden by the explicit text of the Book and the Sunnah, and the matter does not require citing the evidence. The Qur'an says: , and the hadith says: and so on. These are the hadiths transmitted to clarify that the thief is not a believer with complete faith, and the verse that clarifies that whoever steals deserves the cutting off of the hand, whether male or female. These hadiths and verses, in their generality, forbid stealing; whether the stealing is from an individual or from an individual of the state. The example of one who says that this stealing is permissible and lawful is like the example of one who says: It is permissible to steal the money of a Jew, or a Christian, or a Zoroastrian. This is exactly like that. If we wanted to cite evidence for the prohibition of a Muslim stealing from a non-Muslim, whether he is a Jew, a Christian, or a Zoroastrian, we would not, of course, find specific texts in the Book and the Sunnah that say: It is not permissible for a Muslim to steal the money of a Jew, a Christian, or a Zoroastrian. There are no such texts, of course. Rather, the prohibition of this type of stealing—stealing from a Muslim by a disbeliever—is taken from the general evidence that we mentioned. So the answer to the previous question, which is stealing from the state's money, is that it is not permissible; because this type of stealing falls under the general evidence that we mentioned, just as those other parts and types of stealing do. This is exactly like that.
And I think that the one who issues a fatwa permitting such stealing looks at the state from which he permits stealing from its money as a state that takes the people's money unjustly, oppressively, and aggressively.

The questioner : That is exactly what he said.

The Shaykh : I think that is his point of view, yes. And in this case, he says: Since it steals and takes and seizes the money, it is permissible for an individual among us to counter this state with the same action. I say that there is a great difference between what the state does when it is a usurper and takes the people's money without right, and what an individual among the people does when he takes money from the state secretly and by theft and the like. The difference is that when the state takes money from the people, it takes it from this one and that one from various types of entities. This action, of course, is not permissible in Islam; it is not permissible for the state to oppress the individuals of the nation; this is a settled matter. But when an individual among the people turns against his state to treat it with the same bad action that the state uses toward the individuals of the people, this thief, first of all, thinks that he is stealing the state's money, whereas in reality he is stealing the people's money; because this money that the state took by an unlawful means is the people's money. So when the thief steals, he is not stealing from the state, but rather he is stealing the people's money. In simpler and clearer and more evident terms, what this thief complains about and condemns in the state is exactly what he falls into. Perhaps this is clear?

The questioner : Yes, it is clear.

The Shaykh : What this thief complains about and condemns in the state is exactly what he falls into; because the state does not own [anything], and everything it owns is the people's money. Then he—meaning this thief—may take from the state's money that the state did not take by an unlawful means; because the state's money, without doubt, has what is permissible and what is not permissible, like the money of any rich person in the world. So the money—for example—that trades in forbidden things, but at the same time trades in permissible things, this money is not all forbidden; some of it is haram and some of it is halal. So too, the money that the state has is not all permissible. If we suppose—for example—these funds that come from some states as aid, or a gift, or support for economic projects, and so on; we cannot say that this is money the state took by an unlawful means, so I take from it by the same unlawful means.
Therefore, this person who turns to steal from the state's money, his ruling is no different from the ruling of the state when it rebels and takes money from the people or the nation.
And finally, I say: The issue, in the view of Islam, is more important than what has preceded; because we suppose that a person stole money from me; is it permissible, Islamically, for me to steal from him? The answer comes explicitly in his saying—(peace and blessings be upon him): . So if I steal from you, you do not treat me with the same action as mine; so do not steal from me. So too, if a state takes the people's money without right, it is not permissible for an individual among the people to turn against the state and treat it with the same treatment, because that treatment is not lawful.
And finally: After clarifying the impermissibility of this stealing, I say: Issuing a fatwa permitting this stealing distorts Islam and the Shari'ah of Islam, and it opens a door for the enemies of Islam to attack Islam with the words of Muslims themselves who issue fatwas permitting what Allah has forbidden of stealing, under the claim that the thief is stealing from the state.
This is what I have, and perhaps the issue has become clear, if Allah wills.