Stole Wealth from Previous Employer and Wants to Go for Hajj

10-12-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Asslam ole kum rob, in my early days of earning I was cheated a lot to my employer (like I used forged pertrol bills, steal equipment’s etc) after I left the job for better opportunity, I realised that what I have done is a sin. I stopped that act and I never did to my next employer. I was always asking allaha to forgive my sin. Later after some years I got the opportunity to perform hajj

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  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

You are obliged to give back what you had taken unlawfully from their owners. In order for your repentance be valid, you have to give back the rights to their owners or ask them to forgive and waive their right.

If you are going to give it back, then you are not obliged to inform them that you usurped this money or stole it. It is enough to return it to them by any means that would not result in any harm to you or put you in an embarrassing situation.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "It is obligatory for someone who owes rights to people, if he repents to Allah, to return those rights to them. If a person steals something from another person and then repents to Allah, then he has to return what he stole to its owner, otherwise his repentance is not valid.

Someone might say: ‘There is a problem, if I return the right to its owner, I will be divulged, and the person may claim that I had stolen from him more than that.’ The answer is: He may use a trick in this case. He may, for instance, write a letter and not mention his name, and send what he stole, or send its price if the he cannot send the very item. In the letter, he can say (something like): ‘This is your right sent by a person who had taken it unlawfully, and who had repented to Allah; whoever fears Allah, then Allah will make a way out for him’.” [End of quote]

If you can only either restore the rights of the people or perform Hajj and you cannot do both of them, then returning the rights to their owners takes priority over performing Hajj, unless the owners of the right give you permission [to go for Hajj and not give them back their right].

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84034 and 10376.

Allah knows best.

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