He used to take money without his parents’ knowledge; what should he do now?

Question: 45670

I have a very important question, which I hope you can answer. My father has a store in which he sells cards for public telephones. Every time I needed a card I used to tell my father or my mother that I was going to take a card from the store and they would let me do that. But there came a time when I needed a card nearly every day. And I would take a card with the knowledge of the clerk who was working in the store, but I did not tell my father or mother, because I felt that they would never agree to that. When I realized how wrong this was, I never took anything without their knowledge after that. I regretted what I had done and repented to Allaah. Is repentance enough or do I have to tell them what I was doing? Or can I at least take part of my own money and give it to them without them knowing that it was me who gave them this money, because I cannot tell them openly? Can I give them the money until I have paid off what I took, knowing that I do not know the true amount I took because I took so many cards?.

Answer

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

We hope that when you used a lot of these cards it was for good and permissible purposes, because if it was used for the opposite then your using them will be compounded by other sins too, so you should pay attention to this fact.

As you have acknowledged that you were wrong to take these cards without your parents’ permission, you have to repent from doing that – praise be to Allaah Who has guided you to repent and regret your actions. But you should understand that there are conditions for repentance, which is not valid unless they are met. These conditions include: immediately giving up the forbidden action, resolving not to go back to it, and restoring people’s rightful property or seeking their forgiveness. You do not have to tell your father what you did, rather what you have to do is to return the money in whatever way you can. You should try hard to figure out the value of the cards you took without your father’s permission, and give this money to him.

We ask Allaah to accept your repentance and to guide you to do righteous deeds. And Allaah knows best.

For more information see the answers to questions no. 43100, 33858, 31234, 40157

And Allaah knows best.

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