What is the upper limit of what is permissible to pick up from a lost item of money that one comes to own?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. What is the upper limit of what is permissible to pick up from a lost item of money in this time?
The Shaykh : That which is owned by picking it up.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Or what is permissible to pick up?
The questioner : What is permissible to pick up from money in this time, the upper limit.
The Shaykh : Do you mean that which is owned by picking it up, or that which is permissible to pick up?
The questioner : That which is owned by picking it up.
The Shaykh : There is a difference between the two. What is permissible to pick up, you may pick it up even if it reaches millions. But what is owned by picking it up varies according to circumstances and according to people. In a past era, a single dirham was valuable to people, and their ambition followed it. In our current era, ten riyals may not matter if a person loses them; he will not go looking for them, unless it was in a nearby place. Also, in the past, when dirhams were abundant in people's hands and liquidity, as they say, was available, even if fifty riyals were lost, it would not matter to him. But now, dirhams have started to become scarce, and perhaps we can say: thirty riyals, and the ambition of people, the ambition of the middle class, follows it. So you must know that. Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : That which is owned by picking it up.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : Or what is permissible to pick up?
The questioner : What is permissible to pick up from money in this time, the upper limit.
The Shaykh : Do you mean that which is owned by picking it up, or that which is permissible to pick up?
The questioner : That which is owned by picking it up.
The Shaykh : There is a difference between the two. What is permissible to pick up, you may pick it up even if it reaches millions. But what is owned by picking it up varies according to circumstances and according to people. In a past era, a single dirham was valuable to people, and their ambition followed it. In our current era, ten riyals may not matter if a person loses them; he will not go looking for them, unless it was in a nearby place. Also, in the past, when dirhams were abundant in people's hands and liquidity, as they say, was available, even if fifty riyals were lost, it would not matter to him. But now, dirhams have started to become scarce, and perhaps we can say: thirty riyals, and the ambition of people, the ambition of the middle class, follows it. So you must know that. Yes, that is right.