Thread by @IbneKhan01

WOMEN AND STEALING

Mujaddid Alf Thānī Imām Rabbānī Aĥmad ibn Ábdu'l Aĥad al-Fārūqī al-Sirhindī al-Naqshbandī al-Ĥanafī [971-1034 AH / 1564-1634 CE] writes in one of his Maktūbāt regarding necessary guidelines for women and on the meaning of the verse,

“O Prophet! If Muslim women come to you”.

Allāh táālā states:

“O Prophet! If Muslim women com to you to take oath of allegiance that they will neither ascribe any partner to Allāh, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor kill their children,

nor bring the lie that they carry between their hands and feet, nor disobey you in any rightful matter - then accept their allegiance and seek forgiveness from Allāh for them; indeed Allāh is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

[Mumtaĥanah, 60:12]

Explaining the second condition he writes:

“And the second condition that was introduced during the bayáh of women is the prohibition of theft as it is from the major sins,

and because this negative trait is found in most of the women folk and very few are the women who are [truly] aware of the nuances of this evil. Therefore, the prohibition from this evil is incorporated into the conditions of their bayáh.

Those women who spend from the wealths of their husbands without seeking their permissions and spend and destroy [the husbands’ wealths] with impunity, it is included in [the ruling of] theft and attributed to the major sin of theft. This can be said in regards to common women,

as this habit is proven amongst them and this khiyānah is prevalent in almost all of women folk except those whom Allāh táālā has protected.

Alas! They should consider this deed as evil and sinful. The fear of them considering this evil as ĥalāl is excessive, and [therefore,]

there is more fear of kufr due to considering of this evil as halal.

Ĥakīm al-Muţlaq jalla shaanuhū [Allāh táālā] forbade women from theft after forbidding them from shirk,

as this evil is eventually an open pathway to kufr for them, by means of being perceived as ĥalāl [by those who do perceive it as ĥalāl/“ok”], and therefore is much worse for them compared to other major sins.

Also, as women develop khiyānah by time and again taking from the husbands’ wealths, the ugliness of spending from other peoples wealths [without their permission] also diminishes from their eyes,

and it may well become possible that they (such women) unjustly spend out of other people’s wealths too, who are not their husbands, and betray other people’s trust too and steal from their wealths too with impunity.

The meaning of this emphasis will be clear and manifest by just a little contemplation. It is proven then, that stopping women folk from theft is from amongst the most important jobs of Islām and for them, after shirk, this evil has been deemed the ugliest.”