The Ruling on Liability When a Trust Is Stolen

Question

Responsibility for managing income and expenditure lies with the community council. Accordingly, one fund belongs to the community council and the other fund is the property specifically of the mosque. Both funds were with the trustee (amin), and they were stolen. Deliberations went on for a long time, and investigation established that they had indeed been stolen. Considering that the trustee could not bear this burden, the community council forgave him.

Answer

If the trustee kept the two funds separately and safeguarded them fully, committing no negligence on his part, and they were nevertheless stolen, then according to the Shariʿa the trustee is now not held to account.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.