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Is the money that will be paid as compensation for stolen items permissible or forbidden, especially since the models may not have accurately reflected what was stolen?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Writing about fictitious lost items constitutes cheating, deception, and unlawfully consuming people's wealth. It is forbidden, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever cheats is not from us," and "Indeed, there are men who delve into Allah's wealth without right; for them is the Fire on the Day of Resurrection." This must be rectified by amending the request and writing about the actual lost item. If that is not possible, then the excess amount must be returned to the responsible authority; otherwise, it should be spent on general public welfare for Muslims (hospitals, schools, roads) or given to the poor and needy. If the exact amount of the excess cannot be determined, then one should strive to give out what is most likely to clear one's conscience, and it should be spent in the aforementioned ways. Imam Al-Qurtubi mentioned that the way to repent from unlawful wealth in one's possession is to return it to its rightful owners. If they cannot be found, then it should be given as charity on their behalf. If the matter is ambiguous, and the amount of unlawful wealth from lawful wealth is unknown, then one should endeavor to determine what must be returned, and then give it as charity on behalf of its owner if finding them becomes impossible.

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

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