The article taken must qualify in Sacred Law as property. Therefore, no amputation is imposed for stealing water, a container that merely holds wine or water, a Qur’an codex, its attached ornaments, books of heretical innovation1 or pictorial images, a musical instrument, or a cross or an idol.

The property must reach the legal threshold (nisab): three dirhams, a quarter-dinar, or whatever equals either of them in value, the valuation being calculated at the moment it is removed.

The item must be taken from a secure place (ḥirz). If it is taken from somewhere that is not a ḥirz, no amputation is due. For every type of wealth, a ḥirz is whatever people customarily use to safeguard it; a shoe while on one’s foot and a turban while on one’s head both count as a ḥirz. What constitutes a ḥirz differs from one land to another and according to the ruling authorities2.
If several people collaborate both in breaching the ḥirz and in removing property amounting to the nisab, all of them are to have their hands cut off; but if one of them breaches the ḥirz and another enters and carries out the property, neither is amputated, even if they had agreed beforehand.

Any ownership-related doubt (shubha) must be absent. Hence, no amputation is carried out when a person steals3 from the property of his descendants, ascendants, or wife4, nor when he steals from property in which he or any of these has a joint share.

The theft must be proven either by the testimony of two upright witnesses—who must describe the act and whose testimony is not accepted before the victim lodges a claim—or by the thief’s own confession given twice, which he may not retract until the sentence is executed.

The owner of the stolen property must demand its return5.