3 – “As for the thief, whether man or woman, cut off their hands as a recompense for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise” (Quran 5:38).
• A thief is one who takes another person’s inviolable property without the owner’s consent. Theft is among the major sins that incur this penalty: the obligatory severing of the right hand, as that is the Qur’anic reading transmitted from some of the Companions. When the term “hand” is left unspecified, it refers only to the palm up to the wrist. After the hand is severed it must, as a duty, be cauterized in boiling oil or melted tallow (1) so that the blood vessels contract and the bleeding stops.
• The Sunnah, however, qualifies the general wording of this noble verse with a number of conditions, all of which ensure that an act truly deserving the label of theft has taken place:
– First, the stolen property must reach the legal minimum (niṣāb): one-quarter of a dinar, three dirhams, or their equivalent value.
– Second, the property must have been taken from a secure place. The secure place for each type of wealth is whatever people customarily use to safeguard it. If the property was not in such a place, no amputation is carried out. This ruling is derived from the very word “thief,” which denotes taking wealth in a manner against which ordinary precautions could scarcely protect.
• If the thief repeats the crime, his left foot is cut off; if he offends again, some scholars say his left hand is then severed, and upon a further relapse, his right foot. Others hold that he is to be imprisoned until he dies. Divergent reports from the early generations exist on this point.
• The phrase “as a recompense for what they have earned” refers to their audacious assault on people’s property, while “an exemplary punishment from Allah” means a warning from Him to would-be thieves so that they refrain when they know their hands will be amputated. This is akin to His statement concerning murder: “And there is life for you in retribution” (Quran 2:179).
(1) Rendered animal fat or grease.