Ruling on returning what one discovers was stolen after purchasing it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Among the questions of this questioner—O His Eminence the Shaykh—he says: What is the ruling for one who buys a stolen item without knowing it, and then it becomes clear to him that it was stolen? Does he have to return it to the one from whom it was stolen, if he knows who that person is?
Answer:
Yes, if he knows that it was stolen, the sale is invalid, and he must return it to the one he knows is its owner. He must demand the price from the one who sold it to him, seeking it out and asking him for the price. It is not permissible for him to use the stolen item once he knows it is stolen; rather, he must return it to its owner. This is what is obligatory for him. Muslims are brothers, and it is obligatory for him to return what he knows was wrongfully taken and stolen. Yes.
Among the questions of this questioner—O His Eminence the Shaykh—he says: What is the ruling for one who buys a stolen item without knowing it, and then it becomes clear to him that it was stolen? Does he have to return it to the one from whom it was stolen, if he knows who that person is?
Answer:
Yes, if he knows that it was stolen, the sale is invalid, and he must return it to the one he knows is its owner. He must demand the price from the one who sold it to him, seeking it out and asking him for the price. It is not permissible for him to use the stolen item once he knows it is stolen; rather, he must return it to its owner. This is what is obligatory for him. Muslims are brothers, and it is obligatory for him to return what he knows was wrongfully taken and stolen. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.