절도(竊盜)에 대한 샤리아 규범 연구

A Study of Shar‘i Rules Regarding Theft

This paper examines Shar‘i rules regarding theft, with a focus on amputation. Unlike the general public perception that amputation is used as punishment for theft, it is not as easy to cut off the hand of the thief. This study of legal sources, namely, the Qur’an, Sunnah(Hadith), and the four Sunni schools of Islamic law, reveals that in order to amputate, several requirements must be met: adulthood, competency, mental intention, minimum value (Nisab), type of goods, property of another, safekeeping (Hirz), stealth, and proof. In order to amputate the hand of the thief, the thief must; (1) be an adult; (2) be rationally competent; (3) have intentionally stolen; (4) the stolen goods must have a minimum value and have been in the possession of someone; and (5) a faithful Muslim must witness the thief steal or the thief must confess that he / she stole. Only when all these conditions are met can amputation can be executed. It is impossible to cut off the hand of the thief, if the thief is a child, or mentally retarded, was forced to steal by someone, fortuitously stole due to hunger, or the value of stolen goods is negligible. On the basis of this study, further research can be made to examine how the criminal laws of modern Arab states deal with amputation, and how Sharia and criminal laws are related in those countries.