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Question:

Could the Quranic injunction of severing a thief’s hand be interepreted metaphorically as imprisonment?

Author:

Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad

By Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad
Updated on April 3, 2025

Could the Quranic injunction of severing a thief’s hand be interepreted metaphorically as imprisonment?

Huzoor (rh): Yes, some of the Muslim scholars have taken that attitude, particularly Mulana Muhammad Ali Sahib has translated the Holy Quran as such to put them out of circulation, in fact. Some say it also means imprisonment. Some say leave them incapable of stealing again. How? That is not suggested. But they are all just defensive means.

The fact is that this verse was better understood by Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. and he never meant, understood it to be carrying a meaning of putting somebody out of circulation or imprisoning or whatever they say. So why that this meaning did not strike him? That is the most striking thing about it. So one should not defend Allah where Allah does not want to be defended. Whatever the Holy Quran is, it should be taken as such and if it doesn’t appeal to anybody, let Allah deal with them. Why should we try to defend Allah beyond our own limitations? We have our limitations and we shouldn’t transgress those limitations.

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