1. Theft
Theft is defined as covertly taking the wealth of another party from its secure location with the intention of taking possession of it. There are conditions that must be met before an act of theft mandates carrying out the prescribed, fixed punishment. They are:
- The one who steals is sane
- He has reached puberty
- He steals equivalent to the amount (nisab) or more. The Nisab is one Dinar or ten Dirhams (i.e. 4.374 grams of gold).
- He steals the article from a place that meets the requirements of security and safeguarding. This security is considered when the article is safeguarded by a guard or by it being locked in a place.
- The article is in the ownership of another person
- There is no confusion in it (as to whether he took it by way of theft or for some other reason).
- It was stolen secretly (not by force, etc…).
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: "There is no cutting (of hands) for stealing that is less then ten Dirhams" (Musnad Ahmad). Sayyidah Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reports that "The hands were not cut in the time of the Messenger of Allah for stealing worthless things" (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah). Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) narrates that: "The hand of a thief was not cut off during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give peace) except for stealing something equal to a shield in value" (Sahih al-Bukhari, 6792, & Sahih Muslim, 1685). A shield was worth one Dinar at that time, as narrated by Ibn Abbas in Sunan Abu Dawud & Sunan Nasa'i.
If these conditions are met in the absence of any doubt that would prevent carrying out the punishment, it becomes mandatory to cut off the hand of the thief from the wrist joint. This is based on Allah’s words: "As to the thief, male or female, cut off their hands as a reward of their own deeds, and as an exemplary punishment from God. For God is Mighty and Wise. But whoever repents and mends his ways after committing this crime shall be pardoned by Allah. Allah is forgiving and merciful." (5:38-39)
The punishment of amputating the hands is prescribed for a thief, both male (Sariq) or female (Sariqah). According to linguistic principles, the words Sariq and Sariqah are adjectives and denote thoroughness and completeness in the characteristics of the verb they qualify. Consequently, they can only be used for the type of Sarqah which can be called a theft and the one who commits it is called a thief. In other words, if a child steals a few rupees from his father’s pocket, or a wife pinches some money from her husband, or if a person steals something very ordinary, or plucks some fruit from his neighbour’s orchard, or carries away something valuable which has been left unprotected, or drives away an unattended grazing animal, or commits this ignoble offence owing to some need or compulsion, then, no doubt all these are unworthy acts and should be punished, but, certainly, they cannot be classified as acts of theft which the above given verse qualifies.
Consequently, the Prophet (sws) is reported to have said: "If a fruit is hanging from a tree or a goat is grazing on a mountain side and someone steals them, then hands should not be amputated for this. But if the fruit is stacked in a field and the goat is in a pen fold, then hands should be amputated on the condition that the goat is at least the price of a shield." (Mu’atta: No. 1573)
This shows that the amputation of hands is the utmost punishment and should only be administered when the criminal does not deserve any lenience as far as the nature and circumstances of his crime are concerned.
Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Quraish were anxious about a woman from Banu Makhzum who had committed theft and asked : "Who will speak to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) about her?'' Then they said: "No one will be bold enough to do so except Usamah bin Zaid, the (Companion who was) dearly loved by the Messenger of Allah (PBUH).'' So Usamah (May Allah be pleased with him) spoke to him and the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) (angrily) said, "Are you interceding regarding one of the punishments prescribed by Allah?'' He then got up and delivered an address in which he said, "Indeed what destroyed the people before you was just that when a person of high rank among them committed a theft, they spared him; but if the same crime was done by a poor person they inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. I swear by Allah that if Fatimah daughter of Muhammad should steal, I would have her hand cut off.''[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
According to Sa'id bin 'Abdullah bin Mabrouk al-Bishi, an experienced Saudi executioner, "...for me it is more difficult to cut off a hand than to carry out an execution, because executions are done momentarily by the sword and the person leaves this life. By contrast, severing a hand demands more courage, especially because you are cutting off the hand of someone who will remain alive afterwards, and also you have to cut it off at a specific joint and use your skill to make sure that cutting implement stays in position. As I said, it is much more difficult for me to cut off someone's hand than to execute them, both in terms of carrying out the penalty itself and in terms of my own feelings."
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
