Depriving the thief of his rights is injustice

17-8-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

It is a common practice in our country to entirely deprive the wage-earning worker of his wages if it is proven that he has stolen something, even if insignificant. This is based on the assumption that theft has been a persistent stable attitude of him. According to principle, should we deduct the stolen amount of money from the worker's wages based on his confession or the testimony of witnesses or just follow the common practice?

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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 it is proven that the wage-earning worker has stolen from the employer's wealth based on his confession or the testimony of witnesses, then it is better to conceal his sin and to not bring up the case to court. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Whoever conceals a Muslim’s fault, Allaah, the Exalted, will conceal his fault on the Day of Judgment." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

However, if he repeats this act and steals again, paying no heed to admonishment and advice, in this case the incident should be reported to the concerned authorities in order to implement the prescribed punishment for theft so as to ward off his evil. As for the aforementioned common practice in your country, it is invalid because it is unjust. It is impermissible to wrong the thief, even if he himself has wronged another person, by means of depriving him of his financial rights  just because he has stolen from the employer's wealth. Therefore, such invalid common practice should be discarded. Instead, the wage-earning worker should be given his complete wage, and the employer should take back what the worker has stolen only.

Allaah Knows best.