This axis brings together 4 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The Text of the Verse as Cited
{So cut off their hands as recompense for what they have earned}
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s saying, {So cut off their hands as recompense for what they have earned}, in his conception of the punishment for theft?
Shahrur employs the verse as defining the upper ceiling of the punishment for theft: in his reading, the punishment may not exceed “cutting off the hand,” while it may be less than that. He assigns the determination of which thefts merit the maximum punishment, and of lesser punishments, to the work of mujtahids according to objective circumstances. Elsewhere, he connects it with the term “restraining the hand” and denies that imprisonment is among the punishments mentioned in the Mother of the Book.
Shahrur reads the verse as stipulating the maximum punishment for theft, rather than a punishment obligatorily required to the same degree for every instance of theft; he therefore permits the punishment to be less than cutting off the hand. Shahrur assigns to mujtahids the assessment of theft that warrants the maximum punishment and its distinction from cases warranting lesser punishments, according to their “objective circumstances.”
Citation and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 413.
Limits of the Reading
- This presents Shahrur’s reading as it appears in the citation; it does not establish the meaning of the verse in Islamic exegesis generally.
- The citation does not specify detailed practical criteria for the meaning of theft or for cases warranting the maximum punishment or lesser punishments.
- The expression “restraining the hand” occurs in the citation from “The State and Society,” whereas the citation from “The Book and the Qur’an” explicitly speaks of “cutting off the hand” as an upper ceiling; the two expressions should therefore not be merged into a single definition that goes beyond the text of each citation.
- The claim that imprisonment is “a human invention” is part of Shahrur’s reasoning in the citation, not a conclusion established by the verse alone within the accompanying material.
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Brief Reading
Shahrur makes it the basis for defining the upper limit in theft and relating it to restraining the hand, while opening the door to ijtihad regarding anything below it.
Axes
- Legislative
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Limits: 3
- Restraining the hand: 2
- Punishment for theft: 2
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It is connected to the construction of the concept of limits and to distinguishing judgment from fragmentary reading.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 2
- Critique of tradition: 1
- Example: 1
Instances of Use
- The State and Society, p. 304: He uses it to say that the punishment mentioned is restraining the hand, not imprisonment, and that determining the limit belongs to human society rather than to human deification.
- Concept: Restraining the hand
- Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
- Textual citation: “…rather, He mentioned the term ‘restraining the hand’: {So cut off their hands as recompense for what they have earned} (Al-Ma’idah 38), and left it to people themselves to determine the limit of restraining the hand.”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 140: He cites it within his argument against turning the Mother of the Book into an inescapable destiny, because this would render the limits purposeless through the voluntary absence of thieves.
- Concept: Limits
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: “The verses of the limits are of no use, such as the verse on theft, for example, in God’s saying: {As for the male thief and the female thief, cut off their hands…} (Al-Ma’idah 38).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He makes it the upper limit of the punishment for theft, then opens the door to ijtihad in determining what falls below cutting off the hand according to circumstances.
- Concept: Punishment for theft
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual citation: “A- {As for the male thief and the female thief, cut off their hands …} (Al-Ma’idah 38).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He relies on the verse to establish that cutting off the hand is the maximum limit in theft and that human ijtihad determines what is below it according to objective circumstances.
- Concept: Limits
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual citation: “{As for the male thief and the female thief, cut off their hands…} (Al-Ma’idah 38), and exemplary punishment… means prevention… In this verse, He clarified the maximum punishment for the thief, which is cutting off the hand.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.