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What is the Sharia's stance on money laundering crimes, and what is the ruling on ill-gotten money after it has been laundered or whitened?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The term "laundering illicit money" means integrating money acquired through illegitimate means (such as crimes, theft, and prostitution) into legal activities to make it appear clean. This contradicts the rulings of Islamic law.

The ruling on illicit money after it has been laundered does not differ from its ruling before: - Money acquired through theft or usurpation: It must be returned to its owners or their heirs. If they cannot be identified, it should be given as charity on their behalf (if they are Muslims). However, if they are non-believers and cannot be identified, it becomes fay' (spoils of war without fighting) and should be spent on the welfare of Muslims. - Money acquired with the owner's consent in exchange for a forbidden benefit (such as fornication or selling alcohol): It must be spent on general Muslim welfare (such as the poor, building schools).

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

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