By Allah, no one of you takes anything unlawfully except that he will meet Allah carrying it on the Day of Judgment

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) appointed a man named Ibn al-Lutbiyyah to collect the Zakah from the tribe of Banu Sulaym. When he returned to Madīnah, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) held him accountable for what he had collected and how he had spent it. So Ibn al-Lutbiyyah said: This is your wealth, which I collected as Zakah, and this is a gift that was given to me.

He (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Why do you not sit in the house of your father and mother to see whether gifts will be given to you if you are truthful? The rights and duties you were tasked with were the reason for those gifts being offered to you. If you had remained in your home, nothing would have been gifted to you. So, it is not permissible for you to consider it lawful simply because it reached you in the form of a gift.

Then the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) ascended the pulpit angrily and delivered a sermon. He praised Allah and glorified Him, then said: To proceed, I appoint one of you to a duty—to oversee what Allah has entrusted to me of Zakah and war spoils. Then he returns from his assignment and says: This is for you, and this was given to me as a gift! Why does he not sit in the house of his father and mother to see if his gift will come to him?

By Allah, no one takes anything unlawfully from what is given to him except that he will meet Allah on the Day of Judgment carrying it on his neck—whether it is a groaning camel, a mooing cow, or a bleating sheep. Then he raised his hands forcefully until those sitting saw the whiteness of his armpits, and he said: O Allah, I have conveyed Your ruling to them. Then Abu Humayd as-Sā‘idi (may Allah be pleased with him) informed that: This is what his eyes saw and his ears heard.