Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

‘Allah has cursed the Jews! Animal fat was forbidden to them, yet they sold it and consumed its proceeds.’

But leave its sale to them and take the proceeds.”

‘Umar thus forbade them to sell wine, saying, “Even if I were to sell it to unbelievers.” If they themselves sell it to people of their own religion and receive its proceeds, Muslims may take those proceeds from them. Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Any distribution made in pre-Islamic times shall stand as it was made; any distribution that comes under Islam shall be made according to Islam.”

Indeed, most scholars, including Mālik, Ahmad, and Abū Hanīfa, uphold what is indicated by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the practice of his rightly guided caliphs: if unbelievers at war with the Muslims seize Muslim property through warfare, then subsequently embrace Islam or conclude a treaty, that property is left in their possession. Likewise, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left in the polytheists’ possession the Muslim property they had taken while they were unbelievers. They had not believed this to be forbidden, and they had now embraced Islam, which wipes away what came before it. Through Islam, their previous unbelief and deeds were forgiven, so their acquisition of that property no longer entailed sin for them.

Since this is so, consider a Muslim who, on the basis of an interpretation, believes that the sales, contracts of hire, and other transactions he has undertaken are permissible, as some scholars rule. If money has been received through such dealings, and those who received it later discover that the correct view is that these dealings are forbidden, what they received on the basis of that interpretation does not become unlawful for them—just as it is not unlawful for unbelievers, after embracing Islam,