Al-Ma'idah 38

3 min read

This axis gathers 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 verse as quoted

{فَاقْطَعُواْ أَيْدِيَهُمَا جَزَاءً بِمَا كَسَبَاْ}

Brief reading

Shahrur makes it the basis for defining the upper limit in theft and linking it to hand-stopping, while opening the door to ijtihad in what lies below it.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Political and social
  • Methodological
  • Limits: 3
  • Hand-stopping: 2
  • Theft punishment: 2

Its place in the conceptual network

It is linked to the construction of the concept of limits and to separating judgment from a fragmentary reading.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Foundational: 2
  • Critique of the heritage: 1
  • Example: 1

Instances of use

  • The State and Society, p. 304: He uses it to say that the punishment mentioned is hand-stopping, not imprisonment, and that determining the limit is left to human society, not to human divinization.
    • Concept: hand-stopping
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the heritage
    • Textual evidence: «… but rather it mentioned the term hand-stopping: {فَاقْطَعُواْ أَيْدِيَهُمَا جَزَاءً بِمَا كَسَبَاْ} (al-Ma’idah 38) and left it to people themselves to determine the limit of hand-stopping»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 140: He cites it within his argument against turning the Mother of the Book into an inevitable decree, because that would make the limits meaningless due to the optional absence of thieves.
    • Concept: limits
    • Function of the verse here: example
    • Textual evidence: «The verses of limits are of no use, as in the verse of theft for example, in His saying: {وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا…} (al-Ma’idah 38)»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He makes it the upper limit for the punishment of theft, then opens the door to ijtihad to determine what is below cutting according to circumstances.
    • Concept: theft punishment
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: «A- {وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا …} (al-Ma’idah 38)»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He relies on the verse to state that cutting 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 evidence: «{وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا…} (al-Ma’idah 38) and al-nakal… means prevention… in this verse, He, glorified be He, clarified the maximum punishment for the thief, which is cutting the hand»

This page is presented within the general methodology of atlas construction.

Graph View

Backlinks3

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas