and that he actually remove it from the place of safekeeping; for if he steals it from a place that is not a hirz, no amputation is carried out. A hirz for property is whatever people customarily use to protect it, and this differs according to the type of goods, the country, and the ruler’s justice or tyranny, strength or weakness. Thus the hirz for money, jewels, and cloth is in houses, shops, and inhabited buildings1 behind firmly locked doors. The hirz for vegetables, pots of beans, and the like is behind wooden screens provided there is a guard in the marketplace. The hirz for firewood, grain, and haystacks—and for livestock, the paddocks—and when the animals are on open pasture their hirz is the shepherd2 and his regular oversight, as is usually the case.
Another condition is that any possibility of shared ownership be ruled out: there is no amputation for stealing from one’s father’s property, no matter how far up the line, nor from one’s child’s property, no matter how far down; in this the father and mother are the same. A brother, however, and any other relative is liable for stealing the property of a kinsman. Neither spouse is amputated for taking from the other’s property, even if it had been kept from him or her.
Likewise, no amputation is imposed if a slave steals from his master’s property, or a master from the property of his mukatab, or a free person from the public treasury, or from war booty before the khums has been set aside, or a poor person from the income of an endowment designated for the poor, or anyone from property in which he himself owns a share—whether with the victim or with someone from whom amputation is not prescribed.
The penalty is enforced only on the testimony of two upright witnesses, or on a confession repeated twice; and once he has confessed, he is not allowed to retract until the sentence has been carried out.
The victim must also lodge a claim for his property.
When all the conditions are met, the offender’s right hand is cut off at the wrist joint and the stump is cauterized.