She found a watch in Makkah, then she threw it in the trash
Question

                I went for Hajj, and I stayed for a month. After I arrived, I did ‘umrah and exited ihram. One day I circumambulated the Ka‘bah, and I found a watch that was not of any value, as some parts of it were broken, but it was working. At that time my watch was not working, and I needed to know the time, especially the times of prayer, because I was staying in al-‘Azeeziyyah, which is far away from the Haram. So I picked it up and used it during my stay in Makkah, then when I had finished the rituals of Hajj and I went to Madinah, I got rid of it by throwing it in the trash. What is the ruling on what I did? How can I expiate this sin? Please note that I think it most likely that I was not in a state of ihram. What is the expiation if I was in a state of ihram and if I was not in a state of ihram?
Praise be to Allah.
	Firstly:

	Islamic teaching 
	is very strict concerning the ruling on what one may find of lost property 
	in Makkah, to the extent that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be 
	upon him) said: “Its lost property is not permissible except for one who 
	will announce it.”

	Narrated by al-Bukhaari 
	(109) and Muslim (2414).

	What is meant by 
	lost property is anything that a person may drop or lose.

	What is meant by 
	one who will announce it is one who will look for and ask about its owner.

	What this hadith 
	means is that whoever finds any property in Makkah, it is not permissible 
	for him to pick it up unless he will stay and ask about its owner for the 
	rest of his life, and if he dies before finding its owner, he will leave 
	instructions to his children to ask about its owner or his heirs after him… 
	And so on.

	As for property 
	that a person may find outside Makkah, he should ask about its owner for an 
	entire year, then after one year has passed he may make use of it, if he 
	does not find its owner.

	This strict 
	teaching in Islam concerning lost property in Makkah is intended to protect 
	the property of the pilgrims performing Hajj and ‘umrah.

	If a person sees 
	lost property and knows that if he picks it up he has to look for and ask 
	about its owner for the rest of his life, in most cases he will never pick 
	it up; rather he will leave it where it is, and this is what will be done by 
	everyone who sees it, until the owner of that property comes along and finds 
	his property in the place where he lost it.

	Shaykh al-Islam 
	Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This is one of the unique 
	characteristics of Makkah. The difference between it and all other cities in 
	that regard is that people leave it and go to different regions, so the one 
	who has lost something will never be able to look for it and ask about it, 
	in contrast to other cities.

	End quote from
	Zaad al-Ma‘aad (3/398)

	Shaykh Ibn 
	‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

	Lost property in 
	Makkah al-Mukarramah (which is anything that a person may come across) is 
	unique in that it is not permissible for anyone to pick it up except someone 
	who wants to announce it forever, or hand it in to the authorities who deal 
	with such property, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be 
	upon him) said: “Its lost property is not permissible except to one who will 
	announce it.” The wisdom behind that is that if lost property is left where 
	it is, perhaps the owners will come back and find it. End quote from 
	Fataawa Islamiyyah (2/311)

	Based on that, 
	anyone who finds lost property in Makkah should leave it where it is, unless 
	there is the fear that someone may come and take it for himself, in which 
	case he may take it and give it to those who are in charge of looking after 
	lost property. People know that anyone who has lost something may go and ask 
	the government department that is in charge of that.

	This is the 
	ruling on picking up lost property in Makkah.

	This is what you 
	should have done when you found that watch then picked it up.

	The fact that 
	you threw it in the trash indicates that you were afraid that you had done 
	something haraam, so you wanted to get rid of it so that you would not fall 
	into sin, but this was another mistake, and will not save you from the sin 
	of having taken it, because this is wasting and destroying property, and 
	Islam forbids us to waste wealth.

	Secondly:

	With regard to 
	your saying that this watch had no value at all,

	it is not one of 
	the conditions of it being obligatory to look for and ask about the owner of 
	what one finds of lost property that it should be valuable; rather the 
	condition is that it should have value in the sense that the owner cares 
	about it and if he loses it he will ask about it, which is usually the case 
	with watches; their owners usually care about them and ask about them.

	Thirdly:

	As you did not 
	do what you were required to do when you picked up that watch, what you must 
	do now is give the value of that watch in charity on behalf of its owner, 
	and he will have the reward of that charity, and you will have repented from 
	that mistake and absolved yourself of sin. Thus you may expiate for this 
	sin.

	It makes no 
	difference whether you were in a state of ihram or not at the time when you 
	picked it up.

	We ask Allah, 
	may He be exalted, to accept your repentance.

	And Allah knows 
	best.