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Fatwa CenterStealing wine and musical instruments in order to destroy them
Question
Is it permissible to steal unlawful items, like wine and musical instruments, with the intention to destroy them?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
It is not permissible for a Muslim to steal wine or musical instruments to destroy them. In principle, this is the responsibility of those who possess power and authority because they alone are capable to change evil physically by the hand (by force).
It is only when they do it that the sought objective could be achieved. However, if this is done by someone else, very negative consequences are likely to result.
Moreover, if a Muslim does something like that, he may be subjecting himself to blame and false accusations with regards to his religion and faith. Therefore, a Muslim who does not possess authority must try to change the evil he sees with his tongue if he can, or else, he must detest it in his heart. This is supported by the narration on the authority of Abu Sa‘eed Al-Khudri 
that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ordered the one who sees an evil to change it physically with his hand if he was able to do so. If he could not, he should change it by his tongue (by advising and/or condemning), and finally by (detesting it with) his heart, and he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, informed that this is the weakest level of faith. [Muslim]
Allaah Knows best.
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