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What is the ruling on one who steals people's money and then is unable to return it due to poverty, and is his repentance accepted by Allah, and is there a way for him to be saved from punishment on the Day of Judgment?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Repaying rights to their owners or their heirs is a condition for repentance. If the repentant person is poor, he must seek their forgiveness. If they forgive him, it is as if he has returned the right. But if they do not forgive him, he is considered indebted, and it is permissible for him to take from zakat to repay the debt, while seeking forgiveness and praying for them. However, if he is able to repay but does not know the owners of the rights or their whereabouts, he must give the amount in charity on their behalf. Therefore, whenever he is able to return the right through any lawful means, it becomes obligatory upon him to do so.

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

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