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Stolen property is therefore valued only in dirhams, whether dinars and dirhams circulate in the locality or neither circulates there and people transact only in goods. This is Mālik’s position, may Allah have mercy on him. It is the apparent meaning of his statement in al-Mudawwanah and is explicitly stated in Ibn al-Mawwāz’s book, contrary to the view of Abū Bakr al-Abharī. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb said that it is valued in whichever of the two currencies predominates in the locality.
As for ʿAbd al-Haqq’s report from certain scholars of Sicily that goods stolen in a locality where people transact only in goods should be valued in the nearest locality where people transact in dirhams, this is plainly mistaken and untenable. The stolen item may be unsaleable, unwanted, and worthless in the locality where it was stolen, yet command a high price in the locality where dirhams circulate because it is scarce and readily sold there. This would lead to a hand being cut off for less than the prescribed minimum. According to Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, what counts is the value of the stolen property on the day it was stolen and removed from secure custody. Abū Hanīfah, by contrast, holds that its value is considered from the day of theft until the day of judgment. Allah alone grants success.
Section on Amputation for Stealing Adulterated or Underweight Gold
It makes no difference whether the gold and silver are of good or inferior quality, unless they are adulterated with copper. In that case, stealing the prescribed minimum amount of either does not entail amputation unless the copper it contains is negligible—an exceedingly small quantity of no consequence.
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If the gold or silver is underweight, no amputation is imposed when the shortfall is clear and consistently registered by the scales. If, however, the shortfall is slight and the scales give differing readings, amputation is imposed.
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As for dirhams that circulate as individual coins by count but are deficient in weight, the transmitted report states that if each dirham is three grains short, no amputation is imposed. Its apparent meaning is that this applies even if they circulate on the same basis as