Back to search

What is the ruling on doing good deeds with ill-gotten money?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Whoever acquires unlawful wealth must repent and return the money to its owner. If it is not possible to return it to its owner, then one must dispose of it by spending it on the public welfare of Muslims or by giving it as charity to the poor and needy. It is not permissible to give it as charity with the intention of receiving reward (sawab), because Allah only accepts lawful wealth. Giving unlawful money as charity is not accepted, nor is the doer rewarded for it; rather, he incurs sin for disposing of someone else's property without their permission. However, if one gives it as charity on behalf of its owner due to the inability to return it to him or his heirs, this is permissible according to most scholars.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy