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1375201/06/2007

Returning Money Taken Without Permission

Question: 101651

A person has given me money to put in my saving account in an Islamic bank, and then he will take the profits. I needed some of this money and my intention was to estimate the amount of profit of the amount of money I used, and add it to the profits that will be given by the bank when the time of distributing profits in 3 months comes, and give it all to him. Is this permissible? Does it include riba (usury) at all? This person does not know anything about this, and I am giving this to him happily considering it a gift?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly: 

You did wrong when you took the
money without your friend’s knowledge, because it was a trust (amanah) that
was given to you, so it was not permissible for you to transgress against
it. By transgressing against the trust you became liable for it, so you have
to return the same amount, but you do not have to give anything more than
that, unless you took the money and profited from it, in which case the
profit must be given to the owner of the money. This is according to the
view of some fuqaha (jurists) who think that the profit on usurped wealth
and that which comes under the same ruling should not be taken by the
usurper, rather it belongs to the owner of the money. You may tell the owner
of the money what has happened, then agree on the way in which the profits
are to be shared out. 

See also the answer to question
no.
87695

If you took the money and did
not make any profit from it, then you must return the same amount, and there
is nothing wrong with giving something extra as a gift. 

Secondly: 

You have to repent to Allah for
transgressing against this trust. The conditions of repentance include
resolving not to do it again, because repentance is not valid if you
continue taking your friend’s wealth without his knowledge.  You must also
tell your friend and ask for his forgiveness, unless you are afraid that
telling him will lead to negative consequences, such as his cutting you off,
in which case it is sufficient to return the money only. 

And Allah knows best.

Source

Islam Q&A

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