Took others’ money and can not pay them back

Took others’ money and can not pay them back

Question

How does one who has taken people's property unlawfully repent when he does not have the money to return them.

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  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.
The repentance of this person would be by stopping doing this injustice and regretting for having done it and being determined not to do it again while giving back the rights to its owners. If he has no money to repay the rights then it is a debt which he is obliged to repay when he becomes able to do so unless he seeks the forgiveness of the people who have rights on him and they forgive him.
In case they don’t agree to forgive him and he is unable to give their rights back to them, then he should perform good deeds as much as possible especially seeking Allah’s forgiveness and supplicating Him. It might be that Allah will repay these rights on his behalf.
Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb

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