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Does a son stealing from his father's money necessitate the cutting of the hand?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Theft is forbidden and is considered one of the major sins. If theft occurs and the son is not yet an adult, he bears no sin, but the stolen money must be returned, and he should be disciplined in a way that deters him from repeating it, while considering his age. If the thief is an adult, the majority of scholars do not consider cutting off the hand for a son who steals from his father's money, due to the father's obligation to provide for him, the son's right to inheritance, and his access to the house. These are ambiguities that prevent the application of the prescribed punishment (hadd) to him, unlike the Malikis who mandate cutting off the hand because they consider the ambiguity weak. If the son takes what he needs because the father fails to provide the obligatory maintenance, this is not considered theft, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying to Hind: "Take what suffices you and your child righteously." The implementation of prescribed punishments is exclusively handled by Sharia courts.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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