There are different jurists, different schools of jurists have different opinions about this, what to do. Some say that you pick that money which you find on the way and go on declaring it in mosques and telling everybody that I have got that money. Some say no, not in mosques because it’s not permitted to declare things in mosques which you have found outside, but somehow make it known on the beat of drum that I found that much money.
And some say that the person who finds such a money should continue doing it for two years, some say for ten years, some give even a longer time. And even if nobody comes to claim that money after say 15 years or so, then you can use it if it is worth anything left, you know, because of the inflation nowadays and because of the money you will spend on making it known to the whole people, you know, advertising. In fact, by the time you finish, you will be bankrupt yourself. These are the things applicable to a certain period and they infer these things according to the local situations.
The fact is that in principle it is the duty of a person to deposit such things with the lost property office. And it is then a community affair. If somebody wants to get that money and he is the proprietor, he should prove it to the office people and get his things back. It is not a personal property at all. So this is the practice in Rabwah. In Jalsa Salana, whenever people lose their things, everybody picks them up. He goes straight to the lost property office of Rabwah and deposits things there and forgets about it. He doesn’t do it in hope of somebody not coming even after 15 years and he is enjoying that duty.
And this is why, because of this distorted opinion, there are such instances quoted in the history that some people used to say in the mosque that 10 rupees and slowly and very quietly they would say, I have found. Nobody would know what 10 rupees is, you know. Why is he saying 10 rupees? So there are jokes about it. That people wanted to make those things halal for them, you know, permissible. So they went about these tricks and tried somehow to misappropriate the money. The best thing is to realize that is not yours. That is the first thing. And it will not be yours. Forget about it. So deposit it where it belongs and forget. Have you found anything by the way?
