his right hand is paralyzed or has been amputated in retaliation, lost through injury, or the like. Ibn al-Qāsim said: “His left hand and right foot are to be amputated, so that the amputation is on opposite sides, as Allah, Almighty and Majestic, has stated.” Ashhab said: “His left hand and left foot are to be amputated.” Ibn al-Qāsim’s position is more evidently correct.
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As for His words:
“Or be banished from the land” [al-Mā’idah: 33],
scholars differed over their interpretation. Mutarrif related from Mālik that banishment means imprisonment. This was also the position of Abū Hanīfah and his companions. Ibn al-Qāsim held, and also related from Mālik, that banishment means being sent from one’s own town to another, at least the distance at which prayers may be shortened, and being imprisoned there until one’s repentance becomes apparent.
Ibn al-Mājishūn said that it means that the ruler pursues them to enforce the prescribed punishment against them; their flight thus constitutes the enforcement of that punishment upon them, namely banishment. It does not mean that a brigand is banished after being apprehended. Al-Suddī and others said that the ruler pursues them with cavalry until he captures them and enforces the ruling against them, or they are driven from Muslim territory into enemy territory. This is similar to Ibn al-Mājishūn’s position. According to these scholars, some of the punishments Allah mentioned for brigandage apply to those who have been apprehended, and others to those who have not. It is more fitting, however, that all of them should apply to those who have been apprehended.
It has also been said that, once the ruler apprehends a brigand, he banishes him from his own town to another. This is the position of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and others. It is implausible, however, because banishing a brigand from his own town to another is no punishment for him: while engaged in brigandage and setting out on his raids, he is already away from his town. Banishing him to another town without imprisoning him merely leaves him unrestrained, gives him free rein, and encourages him to persist further in lawlessness and corruption.
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As for His words:
“Except those who repent before you apprehend them. Know, then, that Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Mā’idah: 34],
scholars differed concerning this matter on four points:
The first: whether repentance is accepted from a brigand, whether a Muslim or a non-Muslim under Muslim protection.
The second: the circumstances of the brigand whose repentance is accepted.
The third: the nature of the repentance accepted from him.