The second is that his right remains attached to the mixture, so the owner may claim his due from it. This is a useful principle, for many people imagine that when unlawfully acquired dirhams are mixed with lawful dirhams, the whole becomes unlawful. This is mistaken. Some scholars exercised scrupulous caution only when the sums were small; where they were large, however, I know of no disagreement.

The Fourth Principle

When the owner of property cannot be identified, it is to be used for the benefit of Muslims, according to the great majority of scholars, including Mālik, Ahmad, and others. Thus, if someone holds usurped property, borrowed items, deposits entrusted for safekeeping, or items held as collateral, and has lost hope of identifying their owners, he should give them in charity on their behalf, use them for the benefit of Muslims, or hand them over to a just distributor who will use them for the benefit of Muslims in ways recognized by Islamic law.

Some jurists say that the property must be held indefinitely until its owners are identified. The first view, however, is correct. Keeping property indefinitely for someone whom there is no hope of finding serves no purpose; rather, it exposes the property to loss or seizure by wrongdoers.

‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd once bought a slave girl and went into his house to fetch the payment. When he came out, he could not find the seller. He therefore began going around among the poor, distributing the purchase money to them in charity and saying:

“O Allah, this is on behalf of the slave girl’s owner. If it is accepted, well and good; if it is not accepted, its reward is mine, and I shall owe him its equivalent on the Day of Resurrection.”

Likewise, some of the Successors ruled that someone who had misappropriated spoils of war and then repented after those entitled to them had dispersed should give that property in charity on their behalf. This ruling was approved by the Companions and Successors whom it reached, including Mu‘āwiyah and others among the people of Syria. This makes clear: