Returning what one suspects is not theirs
29-6-2017 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu, Shaykh. I have some stationary items which I suspect are not mine, and I have had them since the time I worked at my previous workplace, which I left in 2013. I am not allowed to enter that place anymore as it is an secure area and I am not employed there anymore. I do not any trustworthy person with whom I could send the items to that place. The only option that I see is a Mahram (permanently unmarriageable kin) of mine who is not trustworthy; he is allowed to enter that place as he goes there to get his medications. Please advise on whether I can send the items with him or not, as these constitute a trust and I ignore whether he will fulfill it. This only concerns a few items, like a file, some rubber bands, and paper clips. May Allaah reward you, Shaykh.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we advise you to avoid Waswaas (obsessive doubts). Saying that you doubt whether these items are yours or not indicates that you suffer some sort of Waswaas.
If we assume that these items are not yours – and that they are of value – then you have to return them to their owner. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “The hand that takes is responsible for what it has taken until it returns it.” [Ahmad and Ibn Maajah]
See if you can personally go to that workplace and give the items to the guard. If you cannot do so and you do not trust your Mahram and cannot find any other way to return these items to their owners, then you can give them in charity on their behalf.
Ar-Ruhaybaani 
said:
“Shaykh Taqiyy Ad-Deen said, ‘If a person wrongfully seized an item, or he borrowed it, or it was left with him as a trust or mortgage, and he despaired of knowing its original owner (to return it), then the correct view is to offer it in charity on the owner's behalf. There is no good or benefit in keeping an item of value for a long time for an unknown owner who cannot be found. Rather, this constitutes wasting wealth and imperiling it to wrongful seizure by the unjust. It has been narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood bought a slave girl and went inside his home to bring the price; when he came out, he could not find the seller. So he gave out her price in charity to the poor and needy, saying, 'O Allah, this is charity on behalf of the seller of the slave girl.' Some of the Taabi‘oon (generation following that of the Companions) gave the same verdict; if a person steals something from the spoils of war and then repents to Allah of that sin after the distribution of the spoils, he should offer the stolen items in charity. The Companions and the Taabi‘oon whom this Fatwa reached, such as Mu‘aawiyah and others in Ash-Shaam (the Levant), agreed to it...’” [Mataalib Uli An-Nuha (4/65)]
The fatwa of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research about disposing of a trust whose owner disappeared for years and whose address and heirs are not known and who is thought to be dead reads, “If the case is as you have mentioned, you should keep the money and exert your effort to search for this man. You may also give it as charity to the poor or for a charitable project with the intention that the reward for the charity goes to him. If this man or his heir appears afterwards, tell him the truth. If he accepts it, then all is well; otherwise you have to pay him the money, and you will be rewarded, Allah willing.” [15: 406]
Allah knows best.