al-Moulakhas al-Fiqhi - Salih Al-Fawzan - (2/556)

al-Moulakhas al-FiqhiSalih Al-Fawzan

and that they seize it from a place of secure keeping—such as snatching the money straight from its owner’s hand while he is with the caravan—and that their act of highway robbery be proven either by their own confession or by the testimony of two upright witnesses.

Their prescribed punishment varies in proportion to their crime:

• Whoever kills and takes property is to be executed without fail and then crucified until his case becomes publicly known. No pardon is permissible for him, by consensus of the scholars, as Ibn al-Mundhir records.

• Whoever commits murder but does not take property is executed without fail, yet is not crucified.

• Whoever takes property without killing has his right hand and left foot amputated in a single sitting; the wounds are then cauterized to stop the bleeding, after which he is released.

• Whoever merely terrorizes travellers, without killing anyone or seizing property, is banished from the land: he is driven about and not allowed to settle in any town, but pursued from place to place.

Thus their penalties differ according to the offense, in accordance with the words of the Most High: “The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive to spread corruption in the land is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be banished from the land” (Q 5:33). According to the majority of the early scholars, this verse was revealed concerning highway robbers and forms the foundational ruling on the matter.

Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “If they kill and take property, they are executed and crucified; if they kill without taking property, they are executed but not crucified; if they take property without killing, their hands and feet are cut off on opposite sides; and if they merely instil fear on the road without seizing any property, they are banished from the land.” Al-Shāfiʿī narrated this.

If some members of the band commit murder, the ruling of execution applies to all of them; and if some of them kill while others seize property, they are all executed and crucified.

وأن يأخذوه من حرز؛ بأن يأخذوا المال من يد صاحبه وهو في القابلة، وأن يثبت قطعهم للطريق بإقرارهم أو بشهادة عدلين. وحدهم يختلف باختلاف جرائمهم: فمن قتل منهم وأخذ المال؛ قتل حتما وصلب حتى يشتهر أمره، ولا يجوز العفو عنه بإجماع العلماء؛ كما حكاه ابن المنذر. ومن قتل ولم يأخذ المال؛ قتل حتما ولم يصلب. ومن أخذ المال، ولم يقتل؛ قطعت يده اليمنى ورجله اليسرى في مقام واحد، وحسمت عن النزيف، ثم خلي. ومن أخاف السبيل فقط، ولم يقتل، ولم يأخذ مالاً؛ نفي من الأرض؛ بأن يشرد؛ فلا يترك يأوي بلد، بل يطارد. فتختلف عقوبتهم باختلاف جرائمهم؛ لقوله تعالى: ﴿إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الأَرْضِ فَسَاداً أَنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا أَوْ تُقَطَّعَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلافٍ أَوْ يُنْفَوْا مِنَ الأَرْضِ﴾ ، فهذه الآية نزلت في قطاع الطريق عند أكثر السلف، وهي الأصل في حكمهم. قال ابن عباس ﵄: "إذا قتلوا وأخذوا المال؛ قتلوا وصلبوا، وإذا قتلوا يأخذوا المال؛ قتلوا ولم يصلبوا، وإذا أخذوا المال ولم يقتلوا؛ قطعت لأيديهم وأرجلهم من خلاف، وإذا أخافوا السبيل ولم يأخذوا مالاً؛ نفوا من الأرض"، رواه الشافعي. ولو قتل بعضهم؛ ثبت حكم القتل عليهم جميعا، وإن قتل بعضهم وأخذ المال بعضهم؛ قتلوا جميعا وصلبوا.