The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 339
PT. 6 AL-MA'IDAH CH. 5 فَمَنْ تَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ فَإِنَّ اللهَ But whoso repents after his. 40 transgression and amends, then will Allah surely turn to him in mercy; verily, Allah is Most Forgiving and Merciful. يَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمُ اَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمواتِ Dost thou not know that. 41 Allah is He to Whom belongs وَالْأَرْضِ يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَّشَاءُ وَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ the kingdom of the heavens and يَشَاءُ وَاللهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ the earth? He punishes whom He pleases and forgives whom "6:55; 20:83; 25:72. 5:19; 48:15. The punishment prescribed for a thief in this verse may appear to be too severe in the sight of those who are swayed by false sentiments. But the experience of the world shows that punishment, if it is to be deterrent, should be severe and exemplary. It is better to be severe to one and save a thousand than to be indulgent to all and ruin many. The God of Islam would not make Muslims spoilt children. When Islam was in power, there were very few cases of the cutting-off of the hands of thieves for the obvious reason that in view of the deterrent punishment prescribed by Islam there were very few cases of theft. Nowadays, however, when false sentiment prevails, thieves are given a light punishment, with the result that cases of theft are appallingly on the increase. He is certainly not a good surgeon who hesitates to amputate a rotten limb and thereby destroys the whole body. (hand) ‘Alī, Son-in-law and Fourth Successor of the Holy Prophet, holds that only the fingers of a thief are to be cut off (Ma'ānī, vol. ii, p. 304); while most scholars are of the view that the hand is to be cut off at the wrist. Theologians differ as to the least amount of money or property stolen for which the prescribed punishment is to be inflicted. Imām Abū Hanifah held it to be ten dirhams, while Imām Mālik and Imām Shāfi‘ī considered three dirhams or a quarter of a dīnār to be the least amount, dirham and dinār being old silver and gold coins respectively. Both the above views are based on different interpretations of the sayings of the Holy Prophet. A dirham or a drachm (dram) is believed to be one-sixteenth part of an oz. in avoirdupois weight or one- eighth part of an ounce in apothecaries weight, while a dīnār is equal to 71 and a half barley-corns As for the definition of the word (Lane and New Standard Dictionary). 779