Theft Punishment in Qur’aan
& Bible!
Which One is
Cruel?
By:
Shahid Bin Waheed شاهد
بن وحيد
الحمدلله
رب العالمين
والصلوة
والسلام على اشرف
الانبياء
وسيدالمرسلين
نبينا محمد صل
ا لله عليه
وعلى آله
واصحابه
وازواجه اجمعين
- امابعد
Thanks to be Allaah, Sustainer of the
Universe, and blessing and salutation to be the most distinguish of
the Messengers and foremost among the Prophets, our
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allaah be on him and on his
wives, children and Companions.
In this treatise we will inSha Allaah
compare the theft punishment in the Glorious Qur’aan and in the Bible as well.
We will explicitly establish that the theft punishment in the Bible is most
cruel and unjust without due process. Let us proceed with Islaamic Shariah
injunction about the theft. It is a Hudd punishment, by the way.
We read in Glorious Qur’aan 5:38!!!
وَالسَّارِقُ
وَالسَّارِقَةُ
فَاقْطَعُواْ
أَيْدِيَهُمَا
جَزَاء بِمَا
كَسَبَا نَكَالاً
مِّنَ اللّهِ
وَاللّهُ
عَزِيزٌ
حَكِيمٌ
Cut off (from the wrist joint) the (right) hand of
the thief, male or female, as a recompense for that which they committed, a
punishment by way of example from Allah. And Allah is All-Powerful, AllWise.
WA- AS- SAARIQ WA- AS- SAARIQAH FA-
IQT.AcO AYDIYA -HUMAA JAZAA' BI- MAA KASABAA NAKAAL(AN) MIN 'ALLAAH WA- 'ALLAAH
cAZEZ H.AKEM
WORD FOR WORD TRANSLATION FROM ARABIC TO
ENGLISH:
WA- AS- SAARIQ (and male
thief) WA- AS- SAARIQAH (and female thief)
FA- IQT.AcO (you cut off) AYDIYA HUMAA (their hands)- JAZAA' (as a recompense) BI- MAA (for
what) KASABAA (they have earned)
NAKAAL(AN) (an exemplary punishment)
MIN (from)'ALLAAH
(Allaah) WA- 'ALLAAH (and Allaah)
cAZEZ ({is} All-Mighty)
H.AKEM (All-Wise).
The Penal Law of Islaam (For Theft):
Theft= Sariqa literally means the secretly taking away of
another’s property. In the language of the Law, Sariqa signifies the taking
away the property of another in a secret manner, at a time when such property
is in custody. To constitute theft the following elements are essential:
(1)
The
thief must be an adult of sound understanding.
(2)
The
property must be in careful protection on the man.
(3)
The
property must be taken out of the custody of another person (owner) in a secret
manner.
(4)
The
thief must have obtained full possession of the stolen property.
(5)
The
property must be movable.
(6)
The
property must be of some value, which must not be less than the prescribed
“Nisaab/Nisab” (limit).
(7)
Dishonest
intention to take property.
The Necessity of Cutting off the Hand of
the Thief:
Allaah (SWT) commands and decrees that the hand of
the thief, male or female be cut off. During the time of “Jahiliyyah”, this was
also the punishment for the thief, and Islaam upheld this punishment. In Islaam,
there are several conditions that must be met before this punishment is carried
out, as you will come to know in this message Allaah willing. There are other
rulings that Islaam upheld after modifying the rulings, such as that of blood
money for example.
When Does Cutting the Hand of Thief
Become Necessary?
It is recorded in the TWO Sahihian that Abu Hurayrah
رضی
الله عنه said,
that the Messenger of Allaah (SAW) said,
((“ May Allaah curse the thief who steals an egg and
as a result his hand is cut off, and who steals rope and as a result his hand
is cut off.”)) [Fath Al-Bari 12:83, Muslim 3:1314].
Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded that ‘Aishah عائشه رضی
الله عنها said that
the Messenger of Allaah (صلی
الله عليه
وسلم) said,
((“The hand of the thief shall be cut off if he steals
a quarter of a Dinar or more.”)) [Fath Al-Bari 12:99, Muslim
3:1312].
Muslim recorded that ‘Aishah, may Allaah be always
pleased with her, said, that the Messenger of Allaah (صلی الله
عليه وسلم) said,
((“ The hand of the thief shall only be cut off if
he steals a quarter of a Dinar or more.”)) [Muslim 3:1313].
This Hadîth is the basis of the matters since it
specifies (that the least amount of theft that deserves cutting the hand) is a
quarter of Dinar.
So this Hadîth fixes the value. And saying that it
is three “Dirhams is not a contradiction. This is because of the Dinar in
question was equal to twelve Dirhams, so three Dirhams equaled a fourth
(quarter) of a Dinar. So in this way it is possible to harmonize these two
views. This opinion was reported from ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab, ‘Uthman bin Affan,
‘Ali bin Abi Talib’ (may Allaah be always pleased with them {رضى الله عنهم})- and
it is the view of ‘Umar bin ‘abdul-‘Aziz. Al-Layth bin Sa’d, Al-Awza’i, and
Ash-Shafi’i and his companions. This is also the view of Imaan Ahmad bin Hanbal
and Ishaq bin Rahwayh in one of the narrations from him, as well as Abu Thawr,
and Dawud bin ‘Ali Az-Zahari, may Allaah have mercy upon them.
As for Imaan Abu Hanifah and his students Abu Yusuf,
Muhammad and Zufar, along with Sufyan Ath Thawri, they said that the least
amount of theft that deserves cutting off the hand is “Ten Dirhams”, whereas a
Dinar was twelve Dirhams at that time. The first ruling is the correct one,
that the least amount of theft in one forth of a Dinar or more. This meager
amount was set as the limit for cutting the hand, so that the people would
refrain from theft, and this is a wise decision to those who have sound
comprehension. Hence Allaah’s statement,
جَزَاء
بِمَا
كَسَبَا نَكَالاً
مِّنَ اللّهِ
وَاللّهُ
عَزِيزٌ
حَكِيمٌ
JAZAA' BI- MAA
KASABAA NAKAAL(AN) MIN 'ALLAAH WA- 'ALLAAH cAZEZ H.AKEM
(as a recompense for that
which they committed, a punishment by way of example from Allaah. And Allah is
All-Powerful, AllWise.)
This is the prescribed punishment for the evil
action they committed, by stealing the property of other people with their
hands. Therefore, it is fitting that the tool they used to steal of people’s
wealth, be cut off as punishment from Allaah for their crime.
WA- 'ALLAAH cAZEZ (And Allah is All-Powerful {in His torment})
H.AKEM (AllWise.) in His commands, what He forbids, what He legislates and what He decrees.
i.
The value of the thing stolen be not less than one Dinar or
10 Dirhams; and
ii.
Two male witness of good character give their testimony
against the accused, or he himself confesses his or her guilt.
Biblical Law of Theft!
022:002 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
024:007 If a man be found stealing any of
his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or
selleth him; then that thief shall die;
and thou shalt put evil away from among you.
Similarly in the Hummurabi,
the Athenian, and the Roman codes, theft is, in certain cases, punishable with
death. And in the common law of England, till a comparatively recent date, grand
larceny, or theft of goods above the value of one shilling in the house of
owner, was a capital crime. (Encyclopedia Britannica XIII, p.721)
Those
who love to demonize Islaam with their lies are in fact, afraid to admit the
truth that punishments in Bible are in fact cruel and unjustified without
protecting the rights of accused. Contrary to that in Islaam a thief only loses
his hand not the life like in the Bible. Islaam also protects the
rights of accused demanding two witnesses with good character and/or a
confession of guilt by the thief that Bible does not have. Which theft punishment is most cruel and unjust, you decide!