Muwatta Malik (Yahya)

It is narrated from Hazrat Amrah bint Abdur Rahman that Ummul Momineen Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) went to Makkah. With her were two slave girls whom she had freed (mawla) and a slave who was from the children of Abdullah bin Abi Bakr. Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) sent a sheet from Makkah through the hands of those two slave girls, on which there were pictures of men, and it was sewn up wrapped in a green cloth. What the slave did was, he unstitched the seam of the cloth, took out the sheet from it, and in its place put a bag or a sheepskin, and then sewed it up again. When those slave girls came to Madinah and handed over the trust to whom Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) had instructed, they unstitched it and saw that it was felt, not the sheet. They asked the slave girls, and the slave girls informed Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) or wrote to her, and expressed their suspicion about the slave. When the slave was questioned, he confessed. Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) ordered his hand to be cut off, and his hand was cut off. Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The hand is cut off for a quarter dinar or more.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In my view, when a thief steals property worth three dirhams, it becomes obligatory to cut his hand, because the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered the hand to be cut for a shield whose price was three dirhams, and Sayyiduna Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, ordered the hand to be cut for a citron (a type of lemon fruit) whose price was three dirhams. This is the best that I have heard.