:sl:
As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah is Exalted in power.
But if the thief repents after his crime, and amends his conduct, Allah turneth to him in forgiveness; for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
Qur'an 5:38-39
So clearly the Qur'an does say to cut a thief's hands, but this is only one verse. Additionally verse 39 states that if the thief repents, Allah forgives them (and it is implied that no punishment should be incured). Lastly, if we are going to correctly apply Qur'anic Law, we need to understand the whole instead of the single.
Punishments and Proportionality
The Qur'an only lays down 3 punishments, for 3 crimes in it's entire 114 chapters. This is one of those crimes/punishments. However in multiple other parts of the Qur'an, we are begged and reminded to only apply punishments that are equal to the crime:
And if ye do catch them out, catch them out no worse than they catch you out: But if ye show patience, that is indeed the best (course) for those who are patient.
Qur'an 16:126
The recompense for an injury is an injury equal thereto (in degree): but if a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah: for (Allah) loveth not those who do wrong.
Qur'an 42:40
Therefore, it is evident from the above verses that the Qur'an prescribes law of equivalence in all punishments.
Compensation for the crime
In Islam, the victims or the family of the victims are given option to claim compensation for the crimes committed against them. This is an important feature of criminal law in Islam.
Let's consider the case of murder in Qur'an, which is a worse crime than stealing. There are two earthly punishments. Verse 4:92 deals with a believer's accidental killing. Neither capital punishment nor jail are involved. However, he has to pay a blood money to the family of the deceased unless it is remitted freely by them. Verse 2:178 deals with the second case when someone meant the killing. This...........
Continue to article:
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-God-sa...ric-punishment
One sees the logic in such an exemplary punishnent - since productivity would dwindle and "dog eat dog" mentality would increase in a society where people or their forefathers worked hard with their hands and earned things only for others to psychologically and financially harm and deprive them of the halal rizq which Allah alloted to them.
However - if a person repents from sins and towards Allah of their own free-will or is willingly forgiven by the owner of the goods, there appears to be much room for amnesty.
The person who stole the cloak appears to have died in a state of opposition to Allah and His messenger and was stealing from goods which belonged to people who had just risked their lives to support truth and justice as defined by Allah who is the best judge, your situation appears to be very different from the stealer from ghanaim (spoils) who died in that state of corruption.
Anyways, since you have turned to the truth and are trying to walk aright according to the guidance of Allah, there is no "exemplary punishment" in such case and there is no social benefit in cutting off your hands, since the punishment is a strong and wise deterent.
Also you were living in a society ignorant of the commands of Allah read jafar ibn abi taalib's speech to an-najaashi, and umar ibn al khattaab's confessions about shirk and infanticide in jaahiliyyah) and you have sought to walk aright so you should put it all behind you and strive hard in Allah's cause as an atonement. I dunno if you need to return anything to zuaalimoon who consciously refuse to accept the guidance of Allah and are at war with God and His messenger, but if they were people who accept the guidance and laws of Allah (the Creator of the heavens and the earth who has no partner or equivalent) and seek to walk along Allah's straight path, there is good reason to wonder how culpable you may be and should do what you can to make islaah in the best way possible, even if it means you can no longer find them and decide to atone by giving in sadaqah on their behalf - or on your behalf so that you can use the credits to reimburse them on the day of judgement - still - you don't know how much hurt or inconvenience you caused them so you shouldn't feel secure even if you paid ten times the amount. Good to give in humility with hope and fear.
If a just judge is convinced that you have repented and sees that you are unable to reimburse, there are possibly ways of even reimbursing the wronged from bait al maal for the sake of justice (freeing the prisoners clause).
And Allah knows best.