stolen property reach the legal minimum (nisab): three Islamic dirhams, or one-quarter of an Islamic dinar, or the equivalent of either in other currencies, or the current cash value of the stolen goods. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “No hand is to be cut off except for [stealing] a quarter dinar or more.” This was related by Ahmad, Muslim, and others; in his time a quarter dinar equaled three dirhams.
There is an obvious wisdom in setting the penalty at that amount, for it is normally enough to provide a day’s sustenance for a frugal person and those he maintains. Notice, then, that the hand is amputated for stealing a quarter dinar, even though its blood-money, were it injured, is five hundred dinars. When the hand was trustworthy it was precious, but when it betrayed it became contemptible. Thus, when the freethinker al-Maʿarrī objected:
A hand whose blood-money is five hundred gold coins—
why is it severed for a quarter dinar?
one of the scholars replied:
The honor of trust made it priceless; the shame of betrayal made it cheap—
so grasp the wisdom of the Creator.
- A further requirement for the ḥadd of theft is that the thief takes the property from its secure place (ḥirz). A ḥirz is whatever people customarily use to safeguard their wealth, for the term itself means “protection.” What counts as a ḥirz differs according to the type of property, the country, and the justice, tyranny, strength, or weakness of the ruler. Valuable goods are considered protected only when kept in houses, shops, or sturdy buildings behind locked doors and strong bolts, whereas items of lesser worth are deemed adequately secured in accordance with the prevailing custom—