His words, “in public gathering places,” refer to places such as markets where people buy and sell, and even the area outside the mosque entrance when people are leaving the prayer—particularly Friday prayer, for example. Thus, he should announce it to everyone.

The manner of publicizing it is for him to say, “Who has lost some property?” without specifying it. For if he specified it and said, “Who has lost such-and-such?” and described it in detail, that would open the way for anyone to claim it. Rather, he should speak generally.

Must he mention its type when making the announcement—for example, saying, “Who has lost dirhams?” instead of saying, “Who has lost some property?”

What appears to be correct is that he must do so. If he says, “Who has lost some property?” a person may imagine it to be something other than what he himself lost. But if he says, “Who has lost dirhams?” this is more likely to make the intended meaning clear. The same applies if he finds jewelry: if he says, “Who has lost gold?” people will initially assume that he means gold coins; but if he says, “Who has lost jewelry?” this is closer to the listener’s understanding. Thus, he should mention the description most likely to enable people to identify it, but he should not mention all of its characteristics, lest someone to whom it does not belong claim it.

For example, if he finds dirhams and says, “Who has lost dirhams?” this is permissible. If someone says, “I have,” he will ask him: “How many were there? What denomination were they? Were they five-, ten-, fifty-, one-hundred-, or five-hundred-denomination notes? Were they Saudi currency, or the currency of another country?” Then he will ask about the number, and about the bag, if they were in a bag. All of this identifies it. He need only mention the closest description by which the listener can