He bought himself household appliances with money taken illegally from another person

26-5-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

6 year ago I look Harram Money and I bought one TV at $150, one Microwave at $170 and one Video Recorder at $80.
I know the person who the money belongs to but I can't tell him that I look his money illegally because he can damage my reputation. Just I want to pay him back.
1. The TV with same brand and same model number was discontinued by the manufacturer.
2. the Microwave with same brand & model number its price is decreased/ dawn it is now $145 instead of $170
3. the video recorder with same brand & model number its price is increased/ up it is now $95 instead of $80
Al-hamdu Lillah now I repent and I don’t want these Harram things in my house.
My question is:
1. Do I throw away all of them?
2. How can I make them Halaal?
3. How can I pay him back (old prices or new prices & what about unknown price like TV)
Thank you very much Sheikh

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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.

 

What we understood from the question is that you took money; therefore, it is the amount of money that you are obliged to give back and not the appliances that you had bought with that money. Hence, you are obliged to give back the total amount of money that you have taken from its owner without any right as the Prophet said: “The hand that takes is responsible for what it has taken until it returns it.” [Ahmad]

Besides, you may give it back to him indirectly and you are not obliged to inform him of what happened because what is important is to give him his right in any manner.

As regards the appliances, you may benefit from them and you are not obliged to get rid of them. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 131335, 85498 and 121557.

Allaah Knows best.