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What is the ruling on taking 10% from someone who found money and returned it to its owner? And is this consistent with Sharia or with the law? And what is the ruling on withholding money until a portion of it is obtained? And is it permissible to take money or a gift from the owner if he gives it willingly? And does this affect the reward and recompense?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Whoever finds property and returns it to its owner will be rewarded by Allah, but he is not entitled to a specific compensation that he can demand. This is because Islamic law prohibits taking people's wealth without their willing consent or a right that permits it. It is recommended for the owner to reward the one who returned his property, but it is not obligatory. Ruling that a tenth of the returned lost property should be taken is an injustice and a wrongful appropriation of people's wealth. The finder who returns lost property is not entitled to compensation unless there is a legitimate right that necessitates it, such as if the judge orders him to spend on it, or if the owner announces a reward for whoever finds it. If the owner gives something of his own accord, there is no harm in accepting it, and that does not diminish the reward if the act was purely for the sake of Allah.

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

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