Some scholars answered: It is cut off for a quarter of a dinar in order to protect people’s property, while its blood-money is five hundred dinars in order to protect lives and blood.

Protecting life has made it costly,
and protecting property has made it cheap—so understand the wisdom of the Creator.

Others said, in a literary expression: “When it betrayed its trust, it became worthless; when it was trustworthy, it was precious.”

Question: May the hand be reattached after it has been cut off? It may not, because that would contradict the Lawgiver’s intent. The Lawgiver’s intent is not merely to inflict pain, such that one might say that this has been achieved by cutting it off; rather, His intent is that the person remain without a hand.

If he steals again, some scholars say that nothing further is to be amputated; rather, he is imprisoned and disciplined. Others say that his left foot is cut off at the ankle joint. If he steals again, his left hand is cut off; if he steals again, his right foot is cut off; and if he steals again, some say that he is put to death.

If it is asked, “If all four limbs are cut off, how can he steal?”

The answer is that he may steal with his mouth—for example, by carrying a bag containing gold, gripping it with his teeth, and walking away.

His statement: “Whoever steals something from an unprotected place, whether it is fruit, kathar (the heart of a palm tree), or something other than these two, its value is doubled against him, but there is no amputation.” “Doubled” means that an equivalent amount is added to it. That there is no amputation is evident, because amputation requires that the theft be taken from a protected place.