In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
All thanks and praise are due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, we would like to greet your sense of trust and care for the wealth of the Ummah. May Allah reward you for that.
First of all, we would like to make it clear that all Shi`ite and Sunni scholars unanimously agree that it is necessary to maintain peace and order, and that it is prohibited to steal the belongings of others, whether public or private. It is incumbent on anyone who takes anything that does not belong to him to give it up to an authority responsible for keeping such material or to keep it, just as a trust, till he gives it to the due authorities later on. In no way is he permitted to use or utilize that material in any way, since it does not belong to him in the first place.
Stressing this same opinion, Dr. `Abdus-Salam Dawud Al-Kubaisy, Head of the Department of Tafsir and Qur'anic Sciences at the Faculty of Imam A`zam and Imam of Hajj Ziyab Masjid in Baghdad, states:
"Taking or confiscating governmental facilities and using them for lodging or carrying out any business or political activities is totally unacceptable.
It is haram (forbidden), by the same token, to usurp public money without having permission from the ruler. This is all encompassed by the verses: "And eat not up your property among yourselves in vanity …" (Al-Baqarah: 188) and "… but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not, aggressors." (Al-Baqarah: 190) Thus, it is clear that the oppressor has to pay the oppressed the same confiscated amount and he is responsible for any damage caused due to the oppression. Upon the request of the original owner of a place, the oppressor has to leave right away.
The authority in solving and settling such cases is given to the local authorized courts. However, it is permissible to withhold houses and put some kind of control on governmental buildings for the very purpose of protecting them from theft. In such case, utmost care should be taken and it should be handed over to the real owners or the Muslim ruler. It is prohibited to confiscate both movable and non-movable property. Such property is considered a trust under the custody of the taker until it is time for it to be returned, when there is a just Muslim ruler who can judge where to put it according the rulings of Shari`ah and the best interest of Muslims."
With respect to the issue of taking the party headquarters of the former regime and turning them into mosques and husayniyyat (places where Shi`ites gather to make dhikr and supplications), Ayatollah Sayyed Ali `As-Sistany, a supreme Shi`ite scholar, says:
"If there is a dire need to use such headquarters temporarily for performing rituals and acts of worship, there is no harm in this after getting back to the responsible one in the area or the district. However, such places will not be governed permanently by the rulings of mosques or husayniyyat.
In no way is it permissible to take public belongings like those in hospitals or universities because of the lack of a governing system or authority in the country. On the contrary, such property should be taken care of by being collected and put under the supervision of a chosen committee so that it is handed over, later on, to the authorities. Even the army weapons should be treated the same way."
We end up reminding ourselves of the Hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that reads: "Give the trust to the one who entrusts it to you and never betray the one who betrays you."”
You can also read:
Islamic Ruling on Plundering and Looting in Iraq
Almighty Allah knows best.
