What to Do with Accidentally Taken Extra Clothes from a Store Abroad?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Khalid al-Kharsa
Question
Someone gave me extra clothes while shopping in another country, but I only realized this after leaving the country. What should I do?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
These clothes are a trust (Amana) in the buyer’s possession, and returning them to that store is obligatory. If one uses them without returning them, they are liable for them.
If someone purchases something from a store and the seller mistakenly includes more items than what was agreed upon in the transaction, the buyer, upon realizing this, is obligated to return these additional items to the owner. They remain a trust in the buyer’s possession. If the buyer fails to return them and uses them instead, they are responsible for compensating the owner when they are able to do so, as this is the property of a Muslim that must be returned as long as the owner is known. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
The buyer can return them via mail.
[Shaykh] Khalid al-Kharsa
Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Khalid al-Kharsa is a distinguished scholar from Syria, born in Damascus in 1960. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Da‘wa Islamiyya in Tripoli, a higher diploma in Comparative Fiqh from the University of Omdurman in 1998, a master’s degree in Comparative Fiqh from the Faculty of Shari‘a and Law at the University of Omdurman in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Fiqh from the same institution in 2010.
He acquired knowledge and spiritual guidance from Shaykh Muhammad Salih al-Farfur, Shaykh Abdul Razzaq al-Halabi, Shaykh Muhammad Adib al-Kallas, and Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri, may Allah have mercy on them all.
He received Ijazas from several scholars, including Shaykh Muhammad Amin Siraj, Shaykh Abdul Ghani al-Daqar, Shaykh Muhammad Sa‘id al-Kahil, Shaykh Malik bin al-Arabi bin Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi, Shaykh Muhammad Usman Bilal, the Mufti of Aleppo, and others.
Shaykh Khalid lived in Damascus for 52 years, where he engaged extensively in educational and social activities before being displaced from there. He moved to Istanbul at the end of 2015 and co-established “Markaz Jami‘at al-‘Ilm Wa al-Hidaya” within two months of his arrival. In Istanbul, he is active in educational roles. He serves as the director and teacher at the Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Halabi Institute, a lecturer at Dar al-Fuqaha, and a teacher at the Dar al-Funun Waqf.
His scholarly works and research include his tahqiq on “al-Rasa li al-Salihat min al-Nisa” by Hafiz Yusuf bin Abdul Hadi, “Adab al-Murta‘i in the Science of Dua (Supplication),” “al-Isti‘ana bi al-Fatiha,” “Rashat al-Aqlam – Explanation of Kifayat al-Ghulam” by Shaykh Abdul Ghani al-Nabulsi in Hanafi Fiqh, “al-Hada’iq al-Wardiyya fi Ajla al-Naqshbandiyya” by Khani, and “al-Arba‘in al-Tusiyya” by Muhammad bin Aslam. May Allah preserve him and make his contributions beneficial.
