Ibn Abi Musa [asked]: Do goods (al-ʿuruḍ) have the same status as currency (al-athmān) regarding the announcement (taʿrīf) and the permissibility of disposing of them thereafter? There are two narrations [on this], the more manifest of which is that they are like currency, and I do not know of any difference among most scholars between currency and goods in this regard. Most of our companions said: Goods are not owned [by the finder] through announcement. Al-Qadi said: Ahmad stated this explicitly in the narration of the group. They differed regarding what [the finder] should do with them. Abu Bakr and Ibn ʿAqil said: He announces them forever. Al-Qadi said: He has the choice between continuing to announce them until their owner comes, or handing them over to the ruler so that he may exercise his discretion regarding them. Does he have the right to sell them after a year and give them as charity? There are two narrations. Al-Khallal said: Everyone who narrated from Ahmad that he announces it for a year and gives it as charity, and the one who reported that he announces it forever, [the latter] is an old opinion he retracted. They argued based on what was narrated from Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbas, and Ibn Masʿud, which matches their statement, and because it is a lost item (luqaṭah) that cannot be owned in the Sacred Precinct (Haram), so it cannot be owned elsewhere, like camels. [Also,] because the report came regarding currency, and other things are not equivalent to it, for there is no purpose attached to its specific essence, so its like can take its place in every respect, unlike other things. Our position is the generality of the traditions concerning all lost items. For the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was asked about a lost item, and he said: "Announce it for a year," then said at its end: "Then benefit from it, or it is yours." In the hadith of ʿIyad ibn Himar: "Whoever finds a lost item," which is a general term. Al-Juzajani and al-Athram narrated in their two books, saying: Abu Nuʿaym narrated to us, Hisham ibn Saʿd narrated to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: A man came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said: O Messenger of Allah, what is your opinion regarding property found on a smooth road or in an inhabited village? He said: "Announce it for a year; if its owner comes [return it], otherwise it is yours." They also narrated that Sufyan ibn ʿAbd Allah found a bag and brought it to ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, who said: "Announce it for a year; if it is identified, [return it], otherwise it is yours." Al-Juzajani added: It was not identified, so he met him [ʿUmar] with it the following year,