Buying Stolen Goods and Cheating

“I once asked one of the two Imam, (abu Ja’far or abu ‘Abd Allah), ‘Alayhim al-Salam, about buying goods from cheating and stealing. He (the Imam) said, ‘No, it is not lawful unless it is mixed with other goods. The very substance of stolen goods cannot be purchased unless it is of the properties of the sultan in which case it is not unlawful.’”

“I once asked abu Ja‘far (a.s.), about the case of one of our men who bought from the sultan of the camels of charity and sheep of charity and he knew that they took more than what is rightly due on them. He (the Imam) said, ‘Camels and sheep are just like wheat and barley and other goods. It is not unlawful unless he recognizes the very substance of what is unlawful.’ It was asked, ‘What do you say about the charity collectors who come to us, collect the charity from our sheep, then we ask them to sell them to us and they sell them? What do you say about buying from them? He (the Imam) said, ‘If he has taken them away, then it is not unlawful.’ It was asked, ‘What do you say about wheat and barley which the charity collector takes from us with his measurement and keeps it to one side: if we buy such foodstuff from him?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If he has taken possession with a certain measurement, then it is not unlawful to buy from him without measuring.”

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who bought from a charity collector who committed injustice. He (the Imam) said, ‘He can buy from him unless he learns that he has done injustice in collecting those goods.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘Buying and selling of goods obtained by cheating and stealing are not valid and not lawful.’”

“They wanted to sell the dates of ‘ Ayn of abu Ziyad (name of a place with farms that belonged to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.)), and I wanted to buy it but then I decided to ask permission from abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), so I asked Mu‘adh and he asked him (the Imam) about it and he (the Imam) said, ‘He can buy it because if he does not buy it someone else will buy it.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘Whoever buys stolen goods when he knows it, he shares its shame and sin.’”

“About the case of a man with whom stolen goods were found, abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘He is held responsible unless he presents testimony against the seller such as witnesses.”’