The ruling on disposing of the properties of others

30-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

There are refrigerators in the rooms of most hotels which include bottled water, drinks, and biscuits. Taking any of these items means buying it, but they are sold at a very expensive price. Is it permissible to take something from the refrigerator and then buy a similar thing from the market (at a cheaper price) and put it instead of the thing that was used?

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

If your employer or the responsible people allow you to replace these things which are in the refrigerators of hotel rooms, you are blameless. But, if you do so without their permission or without their knowledge, you are not permitted to do so, as it features transgressing and disposing of others’ properties without their permission.

Allaah Knows best.