Condition of Ḥadd for Theft of Fruits or Date-Palm Pith
By: Imrān Ayyūb Lāhorī
❖ Ruling
- Theft of fruits or the soft pith of date-palms does not require cutting of the hand unless the owner has harvested them and stored them in a safe place.
- If a person eats directly without concealing, nothing is due.
- If he carries them away, he must pay double the value and receive a disciplinary punishment.
- Ḥadd (cutting of the hand) applies only when the stolen goods are taken from protected storage and are worth at least the value of a shield (≈ three dirhams).
❖ Prophetic Ḥadīth
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Man akhadha bifamihi wa lam yattaḳhidh khubnah falaysa ʿalayhi shayʾ. Wa man iḥtamal fa-ʿalayhi thamanahu marratayn wa ḍarb nakāl. Wa mā ukhidha min ajrānihi fīhi al-qaṭʿ idhā balagha mā yu’khadhu thaman al-mijn.”
“Whoever eats (fruit) directly with his mouth without concealing anything, nothing is due upon him. But whoever carries it away, he must pay double its price and be given a disciplinary beating. And whatever is taken from the heaps (stored grains), then the hand is cut if its value reaches that of a shield (three dirhams).”
[Ḥasan: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 2413; Aḥmad: 2/180; Abū Dāwūd: 4390; al-Nasā’ī: 8/84; al-Ḥākim: 4/381; al-Tirmidhī: 1289; Ibn Mājah: 2596]
❖ Vocabulary & Explanations
- Kuthr: The edible pith inside the trunk of the date-palm, resembling fat in color and walnuts in taste.
[Subl al-Salām: 4/1708] - Khubnah: The edge or fold of a garment; meaning to carry secretly by tying it in cloth.
[al-Munjid, p. 193; Subl al-Salām: 4/1713] - Jareen: A drying/storage place for dates, similar to threshing floors for wheat.
[al-Nihāyah by Ibn al-Athīr: 1/263; Subl al-Salām: 4/1713]
Conclusion:- Eating fruit casually from trees = no ḥadd.
- Carrying away without safekeeping = double price + disciplinary punishment.
- Stealing from stored/protected fruits = ḥadd of cutting the hand, if value meets nisāb (3 dirhams).
