Islamic Fiqh > Endowments (waqf) and property > Luqata: the lost item found
Finding a lost item: when picking it up is lawful, the duty to announce, using or not using the item, the case of the Sanctuary and that of the found child.
Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
Luqata (lost property) from A to Z: its status, the announcement and its duration, the owner appearing, stray animals, the laqit (found child), its lineage and maintenance.
Bidayat al-Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd · comparative
The second: the finder does not pick up her find except one proclaiming it publicly. The single meaning is thus that it is not picked up except by one who proclaims it; and the second meaning: only one who proclaims it publicly to inform the people picks it up. Malik said: these two finds are to be proclaimed forever.
As for the finder, he is every free, Muslim, adult man, for it is a charge (wilaya). It was disputed, according to al-Shafi'i, over the permissibility of the disbeliever's picking up. Abu Hamid said: the soundest is the permissibility of that in the land of Islam. He said: as for the capacity of the slave and the sinner for it, two views: the foundation of prohibition is the absence of capacity for the charge.