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What is the secret behind the divine warning against wrongfully consuming an orphan's property, and the guardian's warning against consuming it by adding it to his own property?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

One of the reasons for emphasizing the rights of orphans is to abolish the pre-Islamic (Jahiliyyah) practices of defrauding orphans and girls of their wealth and usurping their rights. Allah has warned against this, saying: "And let those [guardians] fear if they [themselves] had left behind them weak offspring, they would have feared for them. So let them fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming into their bellies fire. And they will be burned in a Blaze." Consuming an orphan's wealth is considered one of the major sins and destructive acts. Islamic law also prohibited the usurpation of the rights of female orphans and commanded kindness towards orphans, forbidding any disposition of their wealth except for what is most beneficial for them, and mandating its return to them upon reaching maturity and sound judgment.

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

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