Back to search

What is the ruling on food that was delivered to the house by mistake, and is it obligatory to search for its owner, and what is the ruling on eating it if it is impossible to reach the delivery company and its price has not been paid?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If someone receives food by mistake, it is not permissible for him to eat it, and its ownership remains with its original owner. It must be returned to him. If returning it is not possible, the food or its value should be given as charity to the poor with the intention on behalf of its owner. This is because money whose owner cannot be identified is spent for the benefit of the Muslims, as Abdullah ibn Mas'ud did when he gave as charity the price of a slave girl whose seller he could not find.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy