What is the ruling on someone who stole physical items or money from relatives, friends, and various places, and has now repented with a sincere repentance, but is currently unable to return the stolen items to their owners for fear of exposure, and does not know the addresses of some of them, and is considering returning the value of the stolen money in the form of gifts, or disposing of the physical stolen items by distributing them, and is charity sufficient as expiation for the value of stolen items that cannot be returned to their owners?

The completion of repentance concerning the rights of people is to return them to their owners. It is not necessary to inform them about theft or similar matters; the important thing is that the right reaches its owner with the intention of returning it. As for rights whose owners are unknown, one must give charity on their behalf. The principle for specific rights (like physical objects) is to return them in their original form if possible, without causing harm. If they have been consumed or changed, one must guarantee their equivalent if they are fungible (measurable by quantity), or their value if they are estimable. Repentance in childhood, before puberty, does not entail sin, but it still necessitates restitution.