What is the Shar'i (Islamic legal) position regarding money found in a rented apartment, which no one has inquired about, and two years have passed, despite attempts to inform the landlady who did not respond?
If you found money in an apartment and informed the apartment owner about it, but she did not claim it as hers, and no one else inquired about it, and more than two years have passed since then, you are permitted to benefit from it. However, you are obligated to guarantee it to its owner should you find him later, or to donate it with the intention that the reward goes to its owner. Some scholars are of the opinion that whoever delays the announcement beyond the first year does not own the found item (luqatah) and should give it in charity on behalf of its owner, while others believe that it is not obligatory to hasten the announcement immediately after finding it.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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