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Fatwa CenterDisposing of items bought with stolen money
Question
1. If a man was a thief and he wanted to repent (Tewba) what are the steps and criteria what should he do with his materials ( such as his clothes, shoes, everything) that he bought with the stolen (Haram) money? What should he do about his body built upon Haram food (i.e. bough by Haram money) ? I have overheard a Hadith that the prophet (PBUH) said about a man who eats Haram, drinks Haram, puts on Haram clothes that Allah will not accept his supplication. 2. There is a Hadith that a wife of a sahabah asked the prophet (PBUH) whether she should take money without his permission because her husband is greedy and he told her to take for her needs. What is the boundary or range in which it is allowed i.e. under what conditions it is permissible? Is a son working in his father’s shop allowed to take this necessary money for his mother? Jezak Allah for your cooperation. Wesselamu Aleikum
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Whoever steals something from a person, he is obliged first to sincerely repent to Allaah fulfilling the conditions of repentance which we have already mentioned in Fataawa 87903 and 86527. Secondly, he is obliged to give back the same item that he had stolen to its owner even indirectly. He will not be acquitted from this sin except by giving back the item to its owner. In case he had lost the item or had consumed it, then he should give back its value according to the day he had stolen it; for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 89762 and 85498.
However, it should be noted that if it is the father who spends on his son, or that the son works with his father in return for a salary and the father does not give him the salary, then the son may take the money that he deserves without the permission of his father, and this is not considered as stealing.
As regards the items that one bought with this (stolen) money, then he may benefit from it, because he is liable only for the ill-gotten money (as a debt), as concerning his body who was fed by this ill-gotten money, then it is hoped that Allaah would forgive him for it due to this repentance.
With regard to the narration of the woman whom you quoted in the question, it refers to Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyaan 
and it is an authentic narration which was reported by Al-Bukhari 
. The narration is evidence that if a husband does not spend on his wife the obligatory spending, then she is entitled to take from his money within reasonable limits. What is meant by reasonable limits is the amount that is known by the customs that it is sufficient, as mentioned by the scholars 
which means the amount according to the customs that is sufficient for her food, drink and clothing. Besides, it is permissible for a son to take this money in order to give it to his mother.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 101138.
Allaah Knows best.
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