If he has intercourse with one of his permanently unmarriageable female relatives under a marriage contract, he is subjected to the fixed penalty. A contract with her, despite her being explicitly prohibited, does not constitute a legal doubt that would avert the fixed penalty. If the person who committed zina repents after being apprehended, the fixed penalty is not waived; but if he repents before being apprehended, it is waived. The same applies to the thief and the highway robber.

The position explicitly reported from him concerning the thief, in the narration of Abu al-Harith and Hanbal, is: “If he repents before he is apprehended, his hand is not amputated.” Al-Maymuni transmitted two statements from him concerning the adulterer. He said: “If he confesses four times and then repents before the fixed penalty is carried out, his repentance is accepted and the fixed penalty is not carried out.” Al-Maymuni also said: “I debated him in another session, and he said: ‘If he retracts what he confessed, he is not stoned. But if he repents, part of his repentance is that he be purified through stoning.’”

The first statement entails that his repentance is accepted after he has been apprehended, since his confession is made only before the judge. The second statement indicates that his repentance is not accepted after apprehension, because he said, “Part of his repentance is that he be purified through stoning.” It is possible, however, that this statement applies to the situation after apprehension.

It is not lawful for anyone to intercede to have the fixed penalty waived for an adulterer or anyone else; nor is it lawful for the person to whom the intercession is addressed to intercede on his behalf.

As for the amputation prescribed for theft, whenever an adult of sound mind steals property whose value reaches the minimum threshold, having no plausible claim concerning either the property or its protected storage, his right hand is amputated at the wrist joint. If he steals a second time after this amputation, his left foot is amputated at the ankle joint. If he steals a third time, there are two narrations. According to one, neither hand nor foot is amputated thereafter. According to the other, his left hand is amputated for the third theft and his right foot for the fourth; if he steals a fifth time, he is subjected to a discretionary punishment but is not killed.

If he steals repeatedly before the amputation is carried out, only one amputation is due. The minimum threshold requiring amputation is measured according to one of two standards: a quarter of a dinar or more, based on the prevailing good-quality dinars; or three dirhams, based on the prevailing good-quality dirhams. For all other property, it is the equivalent value of three dirhams. The property for which the hand is amputated is anything customarily regarded as wealth, even if it is inherently permissible to possess, such as game, grass, and firewood. The same applies to fresh food: its thief is not subjected to amputation, but his hand is amputated for stealing the curtains