Receiving little extra change from cashier
Fatwa No: 362881

Question

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Shaykhs, here in Saudi Arabia, the currency is of certain numbers, but when I buy something, the remaining at times is either not given to me by the cashier or they give extra as the currency is of 0.25, 0.50, 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 riyals, as far as I know. What I mean is, if I purchased, for example, items for 20.35 riyals, the cashier will charge me either 20, or 20.25, or 20.50 riyals, so its either extra or less. If I pay extra, I can leave, but he returns extra to me, will I be sinful? Is this similar to cheating in buying and selling by giving less in weight? Should I give extra in order to not keep anything? And what if I give and the cashier denies to take it? And what if I do not have a small amount to give back at that time, what should I do in such a situation? Please advice, Shaykhs. May Allah reward you.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Such insignificant amounts of money are commonly pardoned by people, so there is no harm if you took an extra insignificant amount from the cashier, and you are not obliged to return that extra (insignificant) sum of money that he has given you. This does not fall into the category of the forbidden Tatfeef (giving less in measure or weight to the person you are selling to or taking more if you are the one who is buying).

Therefore, you should take it easy upon yourself, as this is a simple matter.

Allah knows best.

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