who the actual killer was, because a single group whose members lend one another protection is like a single person (1).
If they seize property without killing anyone—as the Bedouins often do—each of them has his right hand and left foot cut off, according to most scholars, including Abu Hanīfah, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and others. This is the meaning of Allah’s words: “or that their hands and feet be cut off on opposite sides” [al-Mā’idah: 33]. The hand with which he strikes and the foot on which he walks are cut off. His hand and foot are then cauterized with boiling oil or the like, to staunch the blood and prevent it from flowing out, which would lead to his death (3). Likewise, a thief’s hand is cauterized with oil (4).
This measure (5) may be a greater deterrent than execution, for when the Bedouins, corrupt soldiers, and others continually see among them someone whose hand and foot have been amputated, they are thereby reminded of his crime,
(1) Some manuscripts read al-mumtaniʿ (“the group whose members protect one another”).
(2) Manuscripts (ل، س، ط) add: “It was concerning this that Allah Most High revealed: ‘Retaliation is prescribed for you concerning those slain.’”
(3) Manuscripts (ظ، ب) read: “killing him.”
(4) “With oil” is absent from manuscripts (ي، ز).
Shaykh al-‘Uthaymīn commented in his commentary (p. 235) on two issues: “First: In our time, there are other means of stopping bleeding. Should we use them? Answer: We must use them, without question. The scholars mentioned this only as a means of stopping the bleeding, since they had no other means available. Today, however, there are many ways to do so without such torture.
Second: Should this man be anesthetized when his hand or foot is amputated, or should he not be anesthetized so that he experiences the pain? Answer: He should be anesthetized, except in cases of qisās (retaliation) …” Quoted in an abridged and adapted form.
(5) The remaining manuscripts read: “the act.”