full-weight coins, unlike the ruling on zakat. The distinction is that caution in matters of zakat calls for requiring its payment, whereas caution in theft cases calls for refraining from amputation. If, however, the deficiency is about two grains per dirham, Asbagh said that this is slight and amputation is imposed. In my understanding, he means that this applies if they circulate on the same basis as full-weight coins. Abū Ishāq al-Tūnisī said that Asbagh’s statement applies even if they do not circulate on the same basis as full-weight coins. Although this is its apparent meaning, it may be said that the intended meaning differs from its apparent wording. Allah Most High knows best.

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Al-Shāfiʿī’s position on this is close to Mālik’s, since the minimum amount warranting amputation, according to him, is a quarter of a dinar. Thus, under his position, amputation is imposed only on someone who steals a quarter of a dinar in gold, or its equivalent value in goods or dirhams. This is also the position of Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam, one of Mālik’s followers, as reported from him by Ibn Hārith.

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As for the scholars of Iraq, they do not hold that a thief’s hand should be amputated for less than a mithqāl or ten dirhams. Some of them take the mithqāl, rather than ten dirhams, as the criterion, and therefore do not require amputation for someone who steals ten dirhams or more if their value is less than a mithqāl. Others take ten dirhams, rather than the mithqāl, as the criterion, and therefore do not require amputation for someone who steals a mithqāl or more if its value is less than ten dirhams. This is Abū Hanīfah’s position.

Their basis for this is the report of Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs that “the item for whose theft the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, amputated a hand was worth ten dirhams.” They said: “These are two Companions whose assessment of the shield’s value differs from Ibn ʿUmar’s. It is therefore more appropriate not to permit anyone’s hand to be amputated except on the basis of certainty.”

This conclusion does not follow, because the report may concern a separate incident involving another shield, in which case the reports do not conflict. If amputation is required for three dirhams, there is no doubt that it is required for ten dirhams. This is clear. Allah Most High alone grants success.