by one of them from another’s room, taking what he stole into the courtyard of the house. Abd al-Haqq reported a third opinion on this question, which he inferred from al-Mudawwanah and also attributed to Mālik in Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book: that he is not subject to amputation unless he takes the stolen property entirely outside the house. This is incorrect, however, for al-Mudawwanah and Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book explicitly state that he has betrayed a trust rather than committed theft, and someone who betrays a trust is not subject to amputation under any circumstances.

As for a house occupied exclusively by a man and his wife, there are two opinions concerning a wife or her female slave who steals the husband’s property from a room he has made off-limits to them or locked against them, or a husband or his male slave who steals the wife’s property from a room she has made off-limits to them:

The first is that whichever of them steals is subject to amputation upon taking the stolen property out of the room that was made off-limits and locked against them, even without taking it entirely outside the house. This is the apparent purport of al-Mudawwanah and Sahnūn’s explicit position, by analogy with people occupying separate quarters within a single house, since permission is legally established in both cases.

The second is that the thief is not subject to amputation even upon taking the property outside the house. This is Mālik’s position in Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book. Abd al-Haqq reported that Mālik’s position in that book is that the thief is subject to amputation upon taking it outside the house. This is incorrect, however, because Mālik explicitly states at the beginning of the discussion what we have reported from him. His statement at its end must therefore be understood as referring only to an outsider, so that his position does not contradict itself and his statements on a single question are not inconsistent.

As for a house whose occupant or owner grants people general permission to enter—for example, a scholar or physician who permits people to visit him in his house, or a man who reserves one part of his house for his private use and leaves the house door open so that people may enter without permission—anyone who steals from its rooms to which access is restricted is subject to amputation upon taking the stolen property entirely outside the house. Someone who steals from the courtyard or from rooms to which access is unrestricted is not subject to amputation, even upon leaving the house. There is no disagreement on this. However,