What to do after finding a lost item

If money or an object is found and the owner is unknown, what should be done with it?

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما

The owner should be searched for a certain period of time in accordance to the value of the object (e.g for items with higher value, one would search for a longer period of time). If such an amount of time has passed that it is understood that the owner has likely given up their search for the lost item, it may be given away as sadaqa. However, if the owner comes afterwards in search of his item, he can hold the person who put it in sadaqa liable for the item.

 والله اعلم

 Allah Knows best.

 Approved by: Mufti Husain Ahmad Madani