The Verse on Theft Means Deterrence, Not Amputation

2 min read

Intended Meaning

Shahrur interprets the verse on theft as an instruction to restrain the hand from stealing and prevent it, not to cut off the hand physically Accordingly, he understands “cutting” here to mean deterrence or imprisonment, within penalties that can be codified according to the age

The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas

  • Type of argument: legislative
  • Movement of the argument: it rejects literal amputation and makes the intended meaning the deterrence of theft and the codification of punishment.
  • Key terms: theft, cutting, deterrence, prevention, imprisonment.
  • Degree of centrality: central.

It explains how the theft text is reinterpreted within limits open to codification, so that the meaning shifts from corporal punishment to prevention and legal regulation.

Reading aids

Basis

  • Supporting text: “Shahrur’s theses in this passage hold that Qur’anic penalties are understood within limits open to ijtihad and codification according to the age, not as fixed literal bodily measures. The verse on theft does not mean physically cutting off the hand, but rather restraining the hand from theft through prevention or imprisonment.”

Degree of Documentation

  • Level: structurally documented
  • Meaning of the level: the atom rests on more than one witness or on a clear synthesis of closely related expressions.
  • Reason for classification: the passages negate amputation and establish the meaning of restraint and prevention.
  • Limits of the reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted verbatim.

Its Function in the Book

Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.

Editorial note

The wording needs to keep the distinction between analytical explanation and the source text fixed.

Graph View

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas