Lost and Stolen items

Q: If you find money on the street and pick it up and intend to give it in sadqaah, is it allowed or should you just leave it there in case the owner comes looking for it?

Q: A person used to be a thief and had stolen over $100 000. He does not have any of the wealth left and has about 7 years of qadha salaah. He has reformed his ways and wants to gain nearness to Allah Ta'ala. How does he compensate for the $100 000 he stole? How does he perform the 7 years qadha salaah in a timely manner?

Q: Is a small amount of money like 50 cents found on the floor permissible to spend?

Q: A person had some haraam money many years ago which he got from friends where they all use to work. They took the money from their work place and divided among themselves. Now that person saved the money and mixed it with his halaal money and bought something. The portion of halaal money was 90 percent and haraam money was 10 percent.

Later he sold the thing and realised his mistake and repented for his act and decided not to do this again. He then moved to some other country and performed Umrah from his halaal money. He repented again and got the feeling to get rid of that haraam portion of money.

He gave that money as charity and had put some in iftaar box in a masjid which he regrets. He should not have put that in the iftaar box. He is not sure if his intention was for sadaqa or charity. But he sincerely repented and never earned haram money again.

Now after so many years, he is not sure if he has disposed of all that money or not. Can he take some money out from his halaal money and give some charity to people who collect charity money and buy food for poor families just to be on the safe side that all that portion of haraam is dispossed off?

Q: When I was younger around 16 years old, I took a little gift box that I thought was empty from my fathers cupboard. When going to use it, I saw a few coloured stones that didn't look very valuble. They fell out and I didn't think that it was anything of value. I am not sure whether I put the stones back in some other box in the cupboard or whether they were misplaced.

Some years later my mother mentioned that she couldn't find some precious stones of hers. I later thought that perhaps these were the stones I found but out of fear and embarrassment I never mentioned it to my mother. I would like to know that although I didn't intentionally steal them, I just took the gift box without informing anyone as I thought it was empty, what can I do to atone for this mistake and wrong of mine? I am still afraid to speak to my mum but dont want to be sinning either. This happened about 17 years ago.

Q:

1. While at university we used to play table soccer at the café that was on the campus. We cheated by not paying for this as we knew how to manipulate the game machine. I have now made towbah for this. Can I give an estimated amount of money to the current owners of the café as repayment? If yes, do I give it to one of the employees at the café? What do I say to them? I am also not sure if the café is still being owned by the same owners as this happened over 20 years ago. Also, I am not sure if the machines belonged to the café or to a third party. The café was not owned by the university but was run by an independent company.

2. As a child (naabaaligh) I stole sweets from my uncle’s shop and money from my brother’s cupboard. I am too shy to now approach them to tell them this. Is there any way I can pay back for this without them coming to know? Can I give it to them as a gift without telling them what it is for? Also does it have to be returned as money or can I give them a gift in kind (eg. fruit, books, etc) to the exact amount?

3. As a child (naabaaligh) I stole scissors and rulers from my school stockroom. Can I pay back to the government through an extra amount of tax?

4. When I was a child (naabaaligh), I used to steal money from a game in a café. I may perhaps be able to trace the owner of the café. But I do know that the games were owned by a third party whom I do not know. How do I pay back for this?

5. As a child, another child gave me toy cars that he had stolen from a shop. Do I need to pay back for this and how?

Q: If a person leaves something in someone's house and then he forgets about the thing and the other person also does not give his thing back to the person who owns it and now the owner of the thing is not in contact with the person. Someone told the person that he has to give money to some Islamic center if he can't return it. What is the solution that would be better?

Q: I have a Muslim friend and he shared something with me secretly but I couldnt answer... he said that once he stole a telephone from someone, and he is still using that, but he cant find the owner to return it. I told him to sell the phone and give the money in charity.. but I am not a scholar so I am not sure what he should do?

Q: I'm using a banking app, so I have transferred funds from 1 account to another but the transaction failed and the balance has been deducted from my account. After a few minutes, I received a refund but my 2nd account has also been credited with that amount... So I'm asking that should I return it to the merchant as I have been paid this extra amount mistakenly.

Q: When I was about 7 or 8 years (now I am 30 yrs ), I was at my uncle's place where I took some halalas (coins) almost 3 saudi riyals, (not in term of thief). On the way home my father asked me from where did I get this? I didn't want to dishearten my father so I spoke a lie and said that I took it from my house. It was almost 23years ago. I still remember this as I did a big sin. I also gave sadqa of 30 riyals to give them sawab. Actually, now I am not in the state of giving money back to them as I am far away nor can I talk about it. Can you please give me a solution.