Taking lost and found items that are regularly disposed of

30-12-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I work in a gym in Canada, and we have a lost and found. Items could be sunglasses, wallets... At the end of every month, every item that is not claimed by its owner is thrown away with the garbage. My questions is: can I take any item from the lost and found before we get rid of the items? I know that in Islam you wait for a year before taking a benefit from what you find; however, in this case, the items are thrown away at the end of every month. Thank you

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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 is His slave and Messenger.

If these lost items are simple and people do not usually care about them, then there is nothing wrong for whoever finds them to take them and make use of them without making them known (to find their owners).

However, if it is something valuable which the average person usually cares about, then this is a lost and found property that must be made known for a whole year.

After the passing of one whole year, it becomes permissible for whoever found it to benefit from it; please refer to fatwa 133112.

If the gym management throws these items in the garbage after one month, this is not permissible, but you are not allowed to take them unless you want to make them known.

Allah knows best.