this that he should be required to reimburse the owner if he becomes solvent after having been insolvent. Insolvency has already discharged him from that liability, since he cannot remain liable for it without this constituting another punishment. Once that liability has been discharged, it cannot be reinstated. And Allah knows best.
Section
The Ruling on a Thief’s Repentance
A thief’s repentance is not accepted as grounds for waiving the prescribed punishment, unlike the repentance of a brigand. Allah distinguished between the two in His Book: He commanded that the prescribed punishment be carried out upon thieves, then mentioned repentance without making an exception, thus treating repentance as a separate matter following amputation. This indicates that repentance does not waive the prescribed punishment, although it removes the sin if the thief sincerely repents, returns the stolen property to its owner, and obtains his pardon for having withheld it from him.
Allah Most High mentioned carrying out the prescribed punishment upon brigands, then made an exception for those who repent, exempting them from that punishment. He said:
“Except those who repent before you apprehend them. Know, then, that Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-Mā’idah: 34]
These two verses establish the principle that repentance is accepted from an apostate and anyone who openly professed what he previously followed, but is not accepted from a zindīq, a sorcerer, one who commits unlawful sexual intercourse, a wine-drinker, or others like them who conceal their conduct, once the evidence has caught them. For they wish to make their repentance a stratagem for escaping the prescribed punishments. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
“When they saw Our punishment, they said, ‘We believe in Allah alone, and we reject whatever we associated with Him.’ But their faith did not benefit them when they saw Our punishment. Such is Allah’s established way…” [Ghāfir: 84–85]
—through to His words, “the disbelievers.”
And Allah Most High said:
“Until, when drowning overtook him, he said, ‘I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am among those who submit to Him.’” [Yūnus: 90]
“Now? When you had disobeyed before and were one of those who spread corruption?” [Yūnus: 91]
Success comes only through Allah, glorified is He. There is no Lord besides Him.
Here ends the Book of Theft, with praise to Allah and by His help.
It is followed by the Book of Brigandage.