A good man was travelling and he found an amount of cash on the road, but could not find the owner. He is asking what he should do with it.
Praise be to Allah.He has to make announcements about it in the
places where people gather in the cities or towns at either end of the route where he
found the money, and elsewhere (for example, he can put announcements in gas stations and
police stations along the route), and wherever he thinks the owner may live. If a year
goes by without him finding the owner, the money becomes his and he can keep it until he
finds the owner, or he can give it in charity on his behalf. If he finds the owner after
that, he should tell him what he did. If the owner accepts that he gave it in charity,
that is fine, but if he objects then the finder should compensate him, and then he (the
finder) will have the reward for giving charity. Or the finder can keep it with the rest
of his money and give it back to the owner when he finds him.