All juridical acts carried out by the usurper are invalid, for the owner has granted no permission.

If a person seizes something, does not know its owner, and is unable to return it to him, he must hand it over to the judge, who will dispose of it in the proper way; or he may give it in charity on the owner’s behalf. Should he give it in charity, the reward goes to the owner and the usurper is absolved of liability.

Usurping wealth is not limited to taking it by force; it also includes acquiring it through false claims and perjured oaths. Allah the Exalted says: “Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, nor present it to the judges in order that you may knowingly consume a portion of other people’s wealth sinfully” (al-Baqarah 2:188). He also says: “Those who trade the covenant of Allah and their oaths for a small price will have no share in the Hereafter; Allah will neither speak to them nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, and for them is a painful punishment” (Āl ʿImrān 3:77). The warning is severe and the reckoning arduous.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever usurps even a hand-span of land will be made to wear it, stretching through the seven earths.” He also said, “If I rule in someone’s favor concerning his brother’s right, he must not take it, for I have only allotted him a piece of fire.”