Rulings on seizing things wrongfully
Question

                What is the ruling on taking another person’s property wrongfully (ghasb)?
Praise be to Allah. 
          Ghasb in Arabic means to seize 
          something wrongfully. In Fiqh terminology, it means taking the property 
          of others wrongfully, by force.
 
           Ghasb is haraam according 
          to the consensus of the Muslims, because Allaah says (interpretation 
          of the meaning): 
 
          “And eat up not one another’s 
          property unjustly (in any illegal way, e.g. stealing, robbing, deceiving”
 
          [al-Baqarah 2:188]
 Ghasb 
          is one of the worst kinds of eating up another person’s property unjustly, 
          because the Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)  said: “Your blood, 
          your property and your honour are sacred to you.” And he 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The property of a 
          Muslim is not permissible unless he gives his consent.” 
 
          The property that is seized by 
          force may be real estate or it may be moveable goods, because the Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever seizes a 
          handspan of land unlawfully, will surround him to the depth of seven 
          earths.”  
 
          The one who has seized anything 
          unlawfully must repent to Allaah and return the seized property to its 
          owner and ask him for forgiveness. The Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever has done 
          any wrong to his brother, let him seek his forgiveness today, before 
          there will be no dinar and no dirham [i.e., the Day of Resurrection], 
          when if he has any hasanaat (good deeds), some of his hasanaat will 
          be taken and given to the one who was wronged, and if he  does 
          not have any hasanaat, some of the sayi’aat (bad deeds) of the one who 
          was wronged will be taken and thrown onto him, and he will be thrown 
          into Hell,” or as he 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)  said it. If the seized 
          property is still there, it should be returned as it is, and if it is 
          not there, then he must replace it.  
 
          Imaam al-Muwaffaq said: “The scholars 
          agreed that it is obligatory to return the seized property if it is 
          still in its original condition and has not changed.” 
 
          Similarly, he is obliged to return 
          the seized property along with any increase, whether it is connected 
          to it or separate, because that is the growth of the seized property, 
          so it also belongs to the original owner. 
 
          If the one who seized the property 
          has built anything or planted crops on the seized land, he has to remove 
          the buildings or crops if the owner asks him to, because the Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “The sweat of the 
          evildoer counts for nothing.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others; classed 
          as hasan). If that has caused any damage to the land, he is to be penalized 
          for that damage. He also has to erase any traces of building or planting 
          that remain, so that the land may be given back to its owner in good 
          condition. 
 
          He also has to pay rent covering 
          the period from the time when he seized the land to the time when he 
          gave it back, - i.e., the rent for a similar piece of land – because 
          he unlawfully prevented its owner from benefiting from it during this 
          time. 
 
          If he seized something and kept 
          it until the price dropped, he has to make it up to the proper price, 
          according to the correct opinion. 
 
          If he mixed the seized property 
          with something else that can be told apart from it – like mixing wheat 
          with barley – the one who seized it has separate it and return it .  
          If he mixed it with something that cannot be told apart from it – such 
          as mixing wheat with wheat – then he has to give back the equivalent, 
          by volume or weight, without mixing it. If he mixed it with something 
          the same or better, or he mixed it with something different that cannot 
          be told apart from it, then the mixture should be sold and each of them 
          should take his share of the price, in proportion. If the value of the 
          seized goods is reduced in this fashion, and it sells for less than 
          what it would be sold for if sold on its own, then the one who seized 
          it has to make up the loss. 
 
          The scholars also mentioned regarding 
          this topic that “all hands involved in seizing property by force are 
          responsible and must guarantee its return.” This means that all hands 
          which received the seized property from the one who seized it must all 
          guarantee to replace the property if it is damaged or destroyed. These 
          hands number ten: the hand of the one who buys it etc.; the hand of 
          the one who rents it; the hand of the one who takes it in order to possess 
          it without paying anything in return, such as one who receives it as 
          a gift; the hand of the one who obtains it to serve the interests of 
          one who is paying him, such as an agent; the hand of the one who borrows 
          it; the hand of the one who seizes it by force unlawfully; the hand 
          of the one who has it under his control such as one who seeks to use 
          it for trade; the hand of the one who marries a woman who was seized 
          by force  ; the hand of the one who takes it in return for something 
          without any financial transaction being involved; and the hand of the 
          one who destroys the seized property on behalf of the one who seized 
          it.  
 
          In each of these cases, if the 
          second person knows the truth of the matter, and that the one who is 
          giving it to him is the one who seized it unlawfully, then he is also 
          responsible for replacing it, because he transgressed when he knew that 
          there was no permission from the owner of the property. If he did not 
          know the truth of the matter, then only one who seized it in the first 
          place is responsible for replacing it. 
 
          If the seized property is of a 
          type that is usually rented out, then the one who seized it has to pay 
          rent for property of that type for the period during which he kept it, 
          because the benefit is something that is to be measured in monetary 
          terms, so he has to repay that as well as returning the property itself. 
 
          All of the ways in which the one 
          who seized the property has disposed of it are null and void, because 
          he did not have the permission of the owner. 
 
          If something is seized and the 
          owner is not known, and it cannot be returned to him, then he should 
          hand it over to the governor who can restore it to its rightful place, 
          or he can give it in charity on behalf of its owner; if he gives it 
          in charity then the reward for that will go to the owner. In this manner 
          the one who seized it wrongfully may be absolved. 
 
          Wrongful seizure of property is 
          not restricted only to taking it by force; it may also include taking 
          it by way of false dispute or false oaths. Allaah says (interpretation 
          of the meaning):
 
          “And 
          eat up not one another’s property unjustly (in any illegal way, e.g. 
          stealing, robbing, deceiving), nor give bribery to the rulers (judges 
          before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of 
          the property of others sinfully”
 
          [al-Baqarah 2:188]
 
          The matter is serious and the 
          reckoning will be severe. 
 
          The Prophet 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever seizes a 
          handspan of land unlawfully, will surround him to the depth of seven 
          earths.”
 
           And he 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
 
           “If I decide in a person’s 
          favour mistakenly concerning that which is his brother’s right, let 
          him not take it, for I am giving him a piece of fire.”