Question: Can you tell me about the Quran’s law of cutting of the hand of a thief.

The reason for punishment in Islam for stealing is not to create lot of handicapped people in the world. Rather, it is to create an environment where the stealing itself will not happen. Before abolishing stealing, first there should be a solution for poverty. Because of this, in Quran, after suggesting the solution for poverty is only when it starts talking about the punishment for stealing.

The financial regulations in Islam is designed to solve the problems of the poor. A fixed percent of the wealth from the rich is to be taken , and be given to the poor as “zakath”. The messenger (SA) teaches that this zakath is not a mercy from the wealthy, but is a right of the poor.

The zakath system in Islam, if implemented properly, itself is enough to wipe of poverty from the phase of the earth. This is what the history teaches us. In societies where the zakath system was properly implemented, there was no one to take the charity itself. There are numerous examples in the Islamic history to witness the above fact.

If the Zakath system is not able to solve the poverty issue in the state, then it is the responsibility of the rules of the nation to find additional ways to solve the issue. This is the stand of Islam to rule out poverty from the society.

Likewise, the only religion to establish a system to eradicate poverty and showed a role model to the world by implementing the system is Islam. Thus it is after removing all the factors that necessitates the need for robbery is that when Quran starts speaking about the punishment rules. It is not in a society where unemployment and poverty rules that Islam asks to implement its penal rules. Even after creating an environment where there is no need for robbery or stealing, and yet there are some who try to interrupt the normal life of the people by committing acts of stealing, yes - then Islam asks to cut of the hands of these people.

Quran says “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, All-Wise. [5/38].

Quran didnt stop there, it continues “But whosoever repents after his crime and does righteous good deeds (by obeying Allah), then verily, Allah will pardon him (accept his repentance). Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. “ [5/39]

Look around in the world for the type of robbery happening. Are they done by the person to remove his poverty. 99% of the stealing that take place is as an easy way for the person to live a luxurious life. They do the stealing and killings to buy new cars, to stay in luxurious hotels and to win a long queue of girls. If we are ready to cut of few hands of these people, it is quite imminent that there will be a 99% decrease in the commitment of these crimes, which itself help towards creating a better and healthy society.

Even in Islamic nations, there might be situations of drought and famine. In this scenario, if someone commit stealing, Islam don’t ask them to cut of their hand. During the ruling of Umar(RA), there was an incident where a robber was brought in for trial, and it was found that he had done the stealing because of poverty, and thus this person was left free.

Hence, what we see is a religion that created an environment first to prevent crime in the environment to enable a healthy living society and then to punish the one’s who transgress the normal life of the people, and thus be a model to others about the consequences if they too followed the same path of transgression. This is what we can see in this situation.

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