steals a second time, his left foot is cut off. If he steals a third and a fourth time, there are two views among the Companions and subsequent scholars. The first is that the amputations continue for the third and fourth offences until both hands and both feet have been amputated. This is the view of Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—and the position of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, according to one of the two reports from him. The second is that he is imprisoned. This is the view of ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—the scholars of Kufa, and Ahmad according to the other report from him.
His hand is cut off only if the stolen property reaches the prescribed minimum value: a quarter of a dinar or three dirhams, according to the majority of scholars among the people of the Hijaz, the hadith scholars, and others, including Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad. Some scholars hold that it is one dinar or ten dirhams. Whoever steals that amount is subject to amputation by scholarly agreement.
In the two Sahih collections, Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—reported:
“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, cut off a hand for the theft of a shield whose price was three dirhams.”
In Muslim’s wording:
“He cut off a thief’s hand for stealing a shield worth three dirhams.”
A mijann is a shield.
In the two Sahih collections, ʿĀ’ishah—may Allah be pleased with her—reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“The hand is to be cut off for stealing a quarter of a dinar or more.”
In a version recorded by Muslim:
“A thief’s hand is not to be cut off except for stealing a quarter of a dinar or more.”
In a version recorded by al-Bukhārī, he said:
“Cut off the hand for stealing a quarter of a dinar, but do not cut it off for anything less than that.”
At that time, a quarter of a dinar was equivalent to three dirhams, and a dinar to twelve dirhams. A person is not deemed a thief in the legal sense unless he takes property from a place of safekeeping. As for property