Chapter on the ḥadd (prescribed penalty) for theft

Allah the Exalted says, “As for the male thief and the female thief, cut off their hands as recompense for what they have earned and as a deterrent from Allah; and Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.”

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A hand is cut off for a quarter of a dinar or more.”

The Muslims are unanimously agreed that, in principle, the thief’s hand must be severed.

The thief is a corrupt element in society; if left unchecked, his corruption spreads through the body of the nation. He therefore has to be excised by enforcing the appropriate ḥadd to deter him. For that reason Allah legislated the cutting of the hand—that oppressive hand which reached out to what it had no right to touch, the hand that destroys rather than builds, that takes but never gives.

Theft is defined as taking another’s property stealthily from its owner or his deputy, provided that the taker is bound by the laws of Islam, the property taken has reached the legal minimum, it was removed from a secure place normally used to safeguard such property, the owner’s wealth is inviolable, and the taker has no legitimate claim to it.

Consequently, it is essential that the thief, the person wronged, and the stolen property all