reaches one-quarter of a dinar. There is some disagreement on this point among Mālik’s companions, yet the sum of his position is as follows: if two thieves collaborate so that one enters the secure enclosure while the other remains outside, and the one inside hands the goods out to his accomplice, the inside man alone has his hand cut. Should the outsider, instead, thrust his own hand inside and remove the property, he alone is amputated.
If a person who is subject to amputation joins forces with someone who is not—an adult with a child, or a sane man with one who is insane—the penalty falls on whichever of them is liable, provided his personal take reaches the requisite amount. The partner who is not liable for amputation must still repay the value, whether he is well-off or destitute.
Someone who has committed repeated thefts is not amputated anew for each offense; one amputation satisfies them all. Likewise, if he steals several times during a single night—or over successive nights—from the same ḥirz, and the amount taken on each occasion is below the threshold, his hand is not cut, irrespective of whether the combined total reaches the threshold. Anyone from whom the ḥadd is waived must repay the full value of what he stole, however large, and the authorities will pursue payment in both hardship and ease; he is also disciplined.
If the owner of a house catches a thief inside after the theft has taken place, and the thief wrests the property from him and carries it out, the thief’s hand is not cut. He must, however, make restitution and is subjected to a painful chastisement, after which the stump is sealed and cauterized with fire. Should he steal again, his left foot is cut; if he steals yet again, his left hand is cut; and if he repeats the offense once more, his right foot is cut. A further theft brings flogging and lifelong imprisonment to shield people from his harm.
Some jurists have said that his two hands are cut successively—the left after the right—and that his two feet follow in the same order, but the first sequence is the ruling actually applied. If his right hand is paralyzed or he was born without it, the left hand is cut first, then the left foot, and then the right foot. It has also been said that after the left hand