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Fatwa CenterHe found some abandoned stationary items in a room
Question
Assalaamualaykum wa rahmatuLLAAHI wa barakaatuH. I have found some abandoned stationary items in a room. The owner, non-muslim, left them and may not take them. I doubt if i could use them. It would have been purchased with the money of Usuary (riba). What is the ruling on using such items?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is permissible to pick up and benefit from what people throw away and discard because of not wanting it. Al-Mardaawi 
from the Hanbali School, said: “Whoever was the first to pick up what is lawful, like game (hunted animals), ambergris and musk …and what people discard because of not wanting it, then he has more right to it. Also, if one was the first to pick up that which is lost by the people and which they do not care about, as well as lost and found items, or the snow that falls from the sky and Al-Manna and all other lawful things then he has more right to it, without any difference of opinion (among the scholars).”
Therefore, if you predominantly think that those things are abandoned by their owner because of him not wanting them, then it is permissible for you to benefit from them.
As regards fearing that their owner might have bought them with a loan with usurious loan and the like, then this has no effect because the prohibition applies to the person who took the loan and not to the item on which the loan is spent. Indeed, the Prophet used to deal with the Jews while they used to consume Riba and it was not reported that he was used to asking them about their items whether or not they took them with Riba. In addition to this, what a person possesses at hand belongs to him and this principle is not lifted except with certainty and not just with assumptions and doubt.
Allaah Knows best.
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