seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 5:35. O you who believe! Be conscious of God, and seek the means of approach to Him, and strive in His cause, so that you may succeed.
36. As for those who disbelieve, even if they owned everything on earth, and the like of it with it, and they offered it to ransom themselves from the torment of the Day of Resurrection, it will not be accepted from them. For them is a painful punishment.
37. They will want to leave the Fire, but they will not leave it. For them is a lasting punishment.
38. As for the thief, whether male or female, cut their hands as a penalty for what they have reaped—a deterrent from God. God is Mighty and Wise.
39. But whoever repents after his crime, and reforms, God will accept his repentance. God is Forgiving and Merciful.
40. Do you not know that to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth? He punishes whom He wills, and He forgives whom He wills. And God is Capable of everything.
41. O Messenger! Do not let those who are quick to disbelief grieve you—from among those who say with their mouths, “We believe,” but their hearts do not believe; and from among the Jews—listeners to lies, listeners to other people who did not come to you. They distort words from their places, and they say, “If you are given this, accept it; but if you are not given it, beware.” Whomever God has willed to divert, you have nothing for him from God. Those are they whose hearts God does not intend to purify. For them is disgrace in this world, and for them is a great punishment in the Hereafter.
42. Listeners to falsehoods, eaters of illicit earnings. If they come to you, judge between them, or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they will not harm you in the least. But if you judge, judge between them equitably. God loves the equitable.
43. But why do they come to you for judgment, when they have the Torah, in which is God’s Law? Yet they turn away after that. These are not believers
I was reading through the commentary and then I found this....
I may add that I translate the word al-såriq as meaning one addicted to theft, not only for the reasons given above but also because an explanatory reading of this word is al-sarriq, which is an ism mubålaghah, i.e., a noun of intensiveness, from the same root.
The Divine judgment in the Torah referred to here may either imply the Divine injunctions in the Torah, which the Jews refused to follow, or the prophecies of the advent of the Holy Prophet, which they refused to accept.
I have always heard that the Arabians [Muslims] believed in cutting off your hand if you stole from them. That struck fear in me. I know humans just simply do stuff they shouldn't all the time. Stealing from people is one of the "minor" things humans can be really good at. A "major" thing would be rape or murder. So I figured cutting off the hand was too cruel.
The point is made here... however... that if addicted to stealing..... then it might be better to cut off your hand rather than continue to steal.
Maybe this is more about addiction than it is about cutting off the hand.
Are we addicted to always being right? Are we addicted to always judging others as inferior? Are we addicted to labeling everyone around us so that we can hate them on demand? Are we addicted to big homes, fancy cars, fine clothes, and huge bank accounts?
Would we be better off cutting off our hands rather than continue to steal because we can?
A drunk should not hang out in a bar. A thief should not hang out in a jewelry store. A whore should not hang out in a brothel.
Should we cut out the tongue of every liar? The world would get a lot quieter.
Are some people just addicted to crime? Is it the thrill of getting away with it?
Matthew 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
So.... it's not about the cutting off of the hand to punish the thief.It's about cutting off the addiction.
