If you find a lost item and its owner is unknown, what should you do with it?
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The questioner : If you find a lost item and the owner of this item is unknown, such as a lost article like gold, money, or a small or large bracelet, should you give charity on its behalf?
The Shaykh : If a person finds a lost item of coins or jewelry, he should look at it. If it is a trivial matter that people do not care about if it is lost from them, then it is his, and he does not need to search for its owner. But if he knows the owner, it is obligatory for him to hand it over to him. For example, if a person finds five riyals, people do not care about five riyals or search for them if they are lost in our time, because matters are, praise be to Allah, broad and good is abundant. But if you know the owner of these five riyals, it is obligatory for you to hand them over to him, whether he asks you for them or not. As for if what you found is something people care about, search for, and seek, then it is obligatory for you to search for it for a full year, searching for its owner. You should describe this lost item in the markets and around the mosques for a period of one year. At the beginning, you repeat this description every day, then twice a week, then once a week, then once every two weeks, and so on until the year is completed. If the year is completed and its owner does not come, then it is yours. If the finding of its owner is distant, like coins found on land routes, then finding its owner may be impossible, because there are many countries around it, so in which country would you describe it? So in such a case, if a person gives it in charity, that would be better, or he gives it to the judge, and the judge disposes of it as he sees to be in accordance with the Shari'ah.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. This questioner, Ahmad M N from Riyadh, says: O honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh : If a person finds a lost item of coins or jewelry, he should look at it. If it is a trivial matter that people do not care about if it is lost from them, then it is his, and he does not need to search for its owner. But if he knows the owner, it is obligatory for him to hand it over to him. For example, if a person finds five riyals, people do not care about five riyals or search for them if they are lost in our time, because matters are, praise be to Allah, broad and good is abundant. But if you know the owner of these five riyals, it is obligatory for you to hand them over to him, whether he asks you for them or not. As for if what you found is something people care about, search for, and seek, then it is obligatory for you to search for it for a full year, searching for its owner. You should describe this lost item in the markets and around the mosques for a period of one year. At the beginning, you repeat this description every day, then twice a week, then once a week, then once every two weeks, and so on until the year is completed. If the year is completed and its owner does not come, then it is yours. If the finding of its owner is distant, like coins found on land routes, then finding its owner may be impossible, because there are many countries around it, so in which country would you describe it? So in such a case, if a person gives it in charity, that would be better, or he gives it to the judge, and the judge disposes of it as he sees to be in accordance with the Shari'ah.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. This questioner, Ahmad M N from Riyadh, says: O honorable Shaykh.