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To whom should the stolen money be given if it is impossible to identify the original owner of the shop, which has been divided and its features changed?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

For repentance from violating people's rights to be valid, one must restore the rights or seek forgiveness from those wronged. This is based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) sayings: "The hand is responsible for what it takes until it returns it," and "Whoever has wronged another concerning his honor or anything else, let him seek his forgiveness today before there are no dinars or dirhams."

If you cannot find the rightful owner and despair of reaching them, then give charity on their behalf. This is supported by the author of Zad, who said: "If its owner is unknown, then give it in charity on his behalf as a guarantee," and by Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, who stated: "If a person has usurped properties... and has despaired of knowing their owners, then he should give them in charity on their behalf."

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

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