Al-Siyasa al-Shar'iyya - Ibn Taimiya - (الكتاب/88)

Al-Siyasa al-Shar'iyyaIbn Taimiya

Safwān ibn Umayya was sleeping upon a cloak of his in the Prophet’s Mosque—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when a thief came and stole it. Safwān seized him and brought him to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who ordered that his hand be cut off. Safwān said, “O Messenger of Allah, will his hand be cut off for my cloak? I give it to him.” He replied, “Why did you not do so before bringing him to me? (1)” The man’s hand was then cut off. It was related by the compilers of the Sunan works (2).

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—meant that had Safwān pardoned the thief before bringing him to him, that would have been valid. Once the matter had been brought before him, however, the prescribed punishment could not be suspended through pardon, intercession, gifting the stolen property, or anything else.

For this reason, the scholars have agreed—as far as I know—that if highway robbers, thieves, and others like them are brought before the ruler and then repent, the prescribed punishment is not waived; rather, it must be carried out even if they repent. If their repentance is sincere, the punishment serves as expiation for them, and their submitting to it forms part of the completion of their repentance, just as one must restore rights to their owners and submit to the enforcement of retributive justice in matters involving the rights of others.

The basis for this is the statement of Allah, Glorified and Exalted: “Whoever intercedes in a good cause will have a share in its reward, and whoever intercedes in an evil cause will have a share in its burden. Allah is ever Keeper over all things.” [al-Nisāʾ: 85] Intercession means assisting a petitioner by joining him, so that they become two after he had been

(1) Manuscripts Y and Z add: “you had pardoned him.” (2) Narrated by Ahmad (15305), Abū Dāwūd (4394), al-Nasā’ī (4879), Ibn Mājah (2595), al-Dāraqutnī (3/204), al-Hākim (4/380), al-Bayhaqī (8/265), and others through several chains from Safwān, with variant wordings. Al-Hākim said: “Its chain is authentic.” It was also graded authentic by Ibn Abd al-Hādī in *Tanqīh al-Tahqīq* (4/563) and by Ibn al-Mulaqqin in *al-Badr* (8/652). The various chains, however, are not free of criticism. Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbīlī and Ibn al-Qattān therefore inclined to grade them weak, as recorded in *Bayān al-Wahm wa-l-Īhām* (3/568–571).

وكان صفوان بن أمية نائمًا على رداءٍ له في مسجد النبي ﷺ، فجاء لصٌّ فسرقه، فأخذه فأتى به النبيَّ ﷺ، فأمر بقطع يده، فقال: يا رسول الله، أعلى ردائي تقطع يده؟ أنا أَهَبُه له، قال: «فهلَّا قبل أن تأتيني به (١)» ثم قطعَ يدَه. رواه أهل السنن (٢). يعني ﷺ: أنك لو عفوتَ عنه قبل أن تأتيني به لكان، فأما بعد أن رُفِع إليَّ فلا يجوز تعطيل الحدِّ لا بعفوٍ ولا بشفاعةٍ ولا بهبة ولا غير ذلك. ولهذا اتفق العلماء ــ فيما أعلم ــ على أن قاطعَ الطريق واللص ونحوهما إذا رُفِعوا إلى وليِّ الأمر ثم تابوا بعد ذلك لم يسقط الحد عنهم، بل تجب إقامته وإن تابوا. فإن كانوا صادقين في التوبة كان الحدُّ كفارةً لهم، وكان تمكينُهم من ذلك من تمام التوبة، بمنزلة رد الحقوق إلى أهلها، والتمكين من استيفاء القصاص في حقوق الآدميين. وأصل هذا في قول الله ﷾: ﴿مَنْ يَشْفَعْ شَفَاعَةً حَسَنَةً يَكُنْ لَهُ نَصِيبٌ مِنْهَا وَمَنْ يَشْفَعْ شَفَاعَةً سَيِّئَةً يَكُنْ لَهُ كِفْلٌ مِنْهَا وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُقِيتًا﴾ [النساء: ٨٥]، فإن الشفاعة هي: إعانة الطالب حتى يصير معه شفعًا بعد أن كان

(١) (ي، ز) زيادة: «عفوتَ عنه». (٢) أخرجه أحمد (١٥٣٠٥)، وأبو داود (٤٣٩٤)، والنسائي (٤٨٧٩)، وابن ماجه (٢٥٩٥)، والدارقطني: (٣/ ٢٠٤)، والحاكم: (٤/ ٣٨٠)، والبيهقي: (٨/ ٢٦٥) وغيرهم من طرق عن صفوان به بألفاظ مختلفة. قال الحاكم: صحيح الإسناد، وصححه ابن عبد الهادي في «تنقيح التحقيق»: (٤/ ٥٦٣)، وابن الملقن في «البدر»: (٨/ ٦٥٢). ومجموع طرقه لا تخلو من مقال، ولذلك مال إلى تضعيفها عبد الحق الإشبيلي، وابن القطان في «بيان الوهم والإيهام»: (٣/ ٥٦٨ - ٥٧١).