Muwatta Imam Malik (Riwayat Yahya)

It is narrated from Qasim bin Muhammad that a man from Yemen, whose right hand and left foot had been cut off (i.e., he must have stolen twice), came to Madinah and stayed with Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, "The ruler of Yemen has wronged me, and he used to pray at night (i.e., he was vigilant in worship at night)." Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "By your father's oath! Your nights are not the nights of thieves." Coincidentally, a necklace belonging to Sayyida Asma bint Umais (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), was lost. That lame man also searched for it with the people and used to say, "O Lord! Destroy the one who has stolen from such pious householders." Then the necklace was found with a goldsmith. The goldsmith said, "This lame man gave it to me." The lame man confessed or it was proven by testimony. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered, and his left hand was cut off. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "By Allah! The curse he used to invoke upon himself seemed harsher to me than the theft itself."

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a person committed theft several times and was then apprehended, only his hand will be cut off for all the thefts, provided his hand has not already been cut off. And if, after his hand has been cut off, he commits theft equivalent to a quarter dinar, then his left foot will be cut off.

It is narrated from Abu al-Zinad that a governor of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz arrested some men for robbery, but they had not killed anyone. The governor wanted to cut off their hands or kill them (because the punishment for bandits or highway robbers is either death, crucifixion, cutting off hands and feet, or exile). Then he wrote to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz about this matter, and he replied in writing that if you choose the lighter punishment (that is, exile or imprisonment), it is better.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In our view, the ruling is that if a person steals goods from the market which the owners have kept secured in a container, mixed together with one another, and steals the equivalent of a quarter dinar, then his hand will be cut off, whether the owner is present there or not, whether it is night or day.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a person steals property equivalent to a quarter of a dinar, and then returns the stolen property to the owner, his hand will still be cut off. Its example is like a person who has drunk an intoxicating substance and its smell comes from his mouth, but he is not intoxicated; even then the prescribed punishment will be given, because he drank it for the sake of intoxication, even if he did not become intoxicated. Similarly, the thief's hand will be cut off even if he returns the item to the owner, because he stole it with the intention of taking it away, even if he did not actually take it away.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if several people together break into a house to steal property, and they collectively carry away a box, wood, or jewelry, and its value reaches a quarter of a dinar, then the hands of all of them will be cut off. If each of them takes separate property and leaves, then the hand of the one whose share reaches a quarter of a dinar will be cut off, and the hand of the one whose share is less than that will not be cut off.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: According to us, the ruling is that if there is a house in which only one person lives, and someone steals something from that house but does not take it outside the house (rather, moves it from one room to another or brings it into the courtyard), then his hand will not be cut off until he takes it outside the house. However, if there are several separate rooms in a house and people live in each room, and someone steals the property of a room-dweller and takes it out of the room but not out of the house, even then his hand will be cut off.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a slave or slave-girl who comes into the house and whose master trusts him/her steals something from his master, his/her hand should not be cut off. Similarly, if a slave or slave-girl who does not come and go, and is not trusted, steals his master's property, his/her hand should also not be cut off. But if he/she steals the property of his master's wife or if a slave-girl steals the property of her mistress's husband, then the hand should be cut off.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that similarly, if a man steals from his wife’s property which is not in the house where they both live, but is kept in another house, or if a woman steals from her husband’s property which is not in the house where they both live, but is locked in another house, then the hand will be cut off.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a small child or a foreign person who cannot speak has something stolen from their house, the thief's hand will be cut off. But if it is taken from the road or from outside the house, then the hand will not be cut off, and their ruling will be like that of a mountain goat or fruit hanging on a tree.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if someone digs up a grave and steals a shroud equal to a quarter of a dinar, his hand should be cut off, because a grave is a protected place like a house. However, until the shroud is taken out of the grave, the hand should not be cut off.