Q: My friend took some gold from his home without telling his father. The gold was made for him by his grandmother but his father was not ready to give it to him stating that it is his property. Can my friend keep the gold?
A. If the gold was not given to the son by his grandmother in her lifetime, then when she died the father, not the son, inherited that gold and the father became the owner according to the Islamic Law of Inheritance. Because when the son is alive, grandsons do no inherit. Even though the grandmother had the intention of giving the gold to her grandson, and she had it made for him but she did not give it to him in her lifetime. This was the important thing to do. Now when she dies, the gold still belonged to her and was inherited from her by her son, not by her grandson.
The Hadeeth states that for a gift or donation to be complete the receiver must take the item into his possession. The person must be given the gift completely and in a physical sense. This was not done. We believe that the gold still belonged to the father and the son has got no right to keep the gold. He should not have taken it without the father’s permission. Now he must make a plan to deliver the gold to the father, even in a secret way. Don’t worry about Baba and his jantar mantar, worry about Allah and fear Him only. Try and get the gold back into the house so that the father will stop pursuing other means to find out where the gold is. May Allah Ta’aala make it easy for you all, Aameen
And Allah knows best
Mufti Siraj Desai