What should a person do who, in his ignorance, damaged public school property, after he repented and regretted it, in order to return the injustices to their owners? What is the ruling on his inability to pay? And should the value of the damages be estimated at their current value or at the time they were damaged?

Damaging revered money and property is a type of corruption forbidden by Islamic law. Damaged items fall into two categories: those for which there is a guarantee (ḍamān), which are permissible to use according to Islamic law, such as utensils and windows; and those for which there is no guarantee, which are not permissible to use according to Islamic law, such as musical instruments and alcohol. To ensure the validity of repentance from violating people's rights, the right must be returned to its owners or their forgiveness must be sought, and there is no difference between private and governmental entities, though the danger is greater with public entities. If it is impossible to return the right to a non-existent governmental entity, the guarantee (ḍamān) should be spent on another governmental school or for the general welfare of Muslims. The principle for guaranteeing damaged items is that fungible items are guaranteed by their like, and non-fungible items are guaranteed by their value on the day they were damaged. Therefore, you must buy the damaged items and return them to the school, or estimate their price and pay it, or spend it for a public welfare.