IS THIS ISLAMIC PUNISHMENT VERY HARSH?

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Quran,Translation and Commentary in Brief (Vol. 02)
Verses 41-42HOW MUCH OF THE HAND IS TO BE CUT OFF?

IS THIS ISLAMIC PUNISHMENT VERY HARSH?

      Some of the Islamic oppositions have objected that the penalty for theft is very harsh and cruel, and if so, almost all hands in the Islamic societies must be cut off for petty thefts! To answer this, many points and remarks are to be considered, some of which follows:-

      A:- The conditions for doing the punishment, will not cover all kinds of theft and thieves.

      B:- To prove any crime in its Islamic way and method, is very difficult; like the want of the witnesses and testification of four just and Godly men to prove an adultery.

      C:- One should not merely judge with considering one Islamic commandment, independent of all other related commands. Besides the Law for theives, Islamic society has also many strict Laws to reduce poverty and to increase piety. So the commandment of the thief might seem cruel, if we seek to enforce it in a non-Muslim, all free population, like those we see nowadays in Europe or elsewhere.

      D:- If we are the witness of so many thefts in the modern societies, it is because the thief has nothing to fear. In parts of the Islamic world, such as the Saudi Arabia, where the Islamic punishment of thief is observed, thieves are indeed very rare. We often see precious things fallen in the streets there, and no one dares to touch it, until the police who is responsible for that, comes, and picks it up to hand it over to its owner.

      Worthy of note that this Islamic Law of penalty has been executed for centuries throughout the course of history and the event of those executed have been indeed very rare.

      Some have objected that the enforcement of this law costs a lot, and much more than it should, and in such a penalty; a very high price is to be paid for a trifle! In other word; the mulct and blood-money for the amputation of five fingers according to the Law (SHARIAT) is five hundred dinars, but he who has stolen only a quarter of one Dinar should lose four of his fingers! What sort of a justice is this? The same was asked Alm-al-Hoda, a great Islamic scholar a thousand years passed, and he answered it through a beautiful verse as follows:-

      ``The Grace of trustiness enhances the price of the hands to so high a level. The Disgrace of betrayal lowered the price of the hands to so low a degree.''

 

 

Verses 41-42HOW MUCH OF THE HAND IS TO BE CUT OFF?
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Lotus
Mitra
Nazanin
Titr
Tahoma