Sins of the Hands

Among the sins of the hands are:

1. To stint when measuring by volume, weight, or arm
2. To steal. If one stole the equivalent of one-quarter of a dinar from its secured place, one’s right hand would be amputated; if one stole again, the left foot would be amputated, then one’s left hand, then one’s right foot.
3. To loot
4. To take the money of others by force
5. To take the traders tax [maks]
6. To misappropriate the spoils of war [ghulul]
7. To kill; An expiation [kaffarah] is always due for killing, i.e., to free a Muslim slave who has no defects; if unable, one fasts two consecutive lunar months. Deliberate killing is punishable by death, except if the heirs of the killed person forgive the killer for an indemnity [diyah] or for free. In the case of killing by mistake or by mistake in a deliberate injury the due indemnity [diyah] is one-hundred camels for the free, male Muslim and half of that for the free, female Muslim. The indemnity [diyah] varies with the way the killing took place.
8. To beat a person unjustly
9. To take and to give a bribe
10. To burn an animal, unless there was no other way to avoid its harm
11. To dismember an animal
12. To play with the die or anything which contains gambling, including children’s games
13. To play unlawful musical instruments like the lute, rabab, flute, and instruments with strings
14. To intentionally touch the marriageable woman without a barrier or to touch her lustfully with a barrier even if the person in this case is a non-marriageable kin or of the same sex
15. To depict that which has a soul
16. To refrain from paying one’s Zakah or part of one’s Zakah after it is due when one is able to pay it, or to pay an invalid Zakah, or to give the Zakah to those who do not deserve it
17. To refuse to pay an employee his salary
18. Without an excuse, to refuse to give the starving what fulfills his hunger and to refrain from saving a drowning person
19. To write what is prohibited to say
20. To betray, which is opposite to sincere advice, and this includes deeds, sayings, or conditions

Important Note

The punishments mentioned above are only meted out if an Islamic government is functioning. Individuals/groups are not permitted by Sacred Law to administer them on their own accord. To do so is vigilantism, which is anathema to Islam.

And Allah and His Messenger know best