Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”It is the very nature of being a Christian that undoubtedly causes conflict with the world. We aren’t out to create conflict, but the world wants to shove it in our faces. Sorry but we simply ain’t buying the world’s views.
Cutting off thief's hand is a punishment prescribed by the law for breaking the rules and not the rule itself .
The rule is not to steal!Most people don't like the rules, so, they forgo the laws too, that was prescribed by God. Jesus called these people workers of iniquity, whom he will deny knowing them in his second coming later.
So, we can not determine the laws for a community by the like of some people, let alone its punishment and deterrent.
Ancient religions are rule based rather that law based as these were given to individuals and small community. As these religions developed and began to spread to greater area, laws were formulated by man. There was no obligation on society to enforce the rules and the laws to punish offenders.
Imagine, no need to stop at the traffic light when it is red, no laws to punish traffic offenders. No deterrents! There will be chaos in the’ city.
Punishment tor theft in Islam has been prescribed, implemented and tested to be successful in reducing or eliminating the problem of theft in the past. Its merits for future use must be evaluated objectively.
When people hear of these types of laws, they think its as simple as “You stole a cookie?! Your hand needs to get chopped!”.
Its more complicated than that. Factors like whether its a repeat offense, the scale of the offense, the circumstances of the offense etc. are all examined. Its probably very exceptional case that someone ends up with this punishment.
Nevertheless, the fact that such a harsh maximum punishment exists, is a pretty effective deterrent in my opinion.
It's a Hadd punishment of Islam which is applied after the rules of Islam have been applied like all rich giving zakat tax of 2.5 % so that poverty has been eradicated. During Caliph Umar times when there was famine its said this law was temporarily halted until all things went to normal and similarly a theif ’s hands are not cut if the value of the goods is less than a specific amount (think its 4 dirhams) implying if one has robbed in great hunger this is not applied. This is not carried on by I individuals that could cause confusion by biasedness like some powerful person trying to implement on his enemies by slandering, false witness etc but only by a Sharia court with clear eye witnesses.
(thieves) must be made an example for others. Kindly watch some of the robbery videos and read robbery case documents regarding robberies around the world before passing judgement. A thief will go to any extent to steal from others either harming them or killing them (armed robbery). Just Putting them in Jail won't solve the problem. When they come out of jail they will plan to do something big and evil.
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