adulteration or is raw ore requiring refinement, the cutting is not mandatory until the gold content within it reaches a quarter of a dinar, because smelting it reduces its weight. If he steals a quarter of a dinar in the form of clippings (qurada), pure raw ore (tibr), or jewelry, then the cutting punishment applies. Ahmad stated this in the narration of al-Juzajani, who said: I asked him: How could he steal a quarter of a dinar? He replied: A piece of gold, or a ring, or jewelry. This is the opinion of most of the Shafi'i scholars. The Qadi mentioned two possibilities regarding the obligation of cutting: one of them is that no cutting is mandatory, which is the view of some Shafi'i scholars, because the term "dinar" refers to minted currency. We contend that it is still a quarter of a dinar, for it is said: a dinar of clippings, or broken pieces (31), or pure dinar (33). Furthermore, he cannot usually steal a quarter of a single dinar unless it is broken. Cutting has been made mandatory for this, and because it is a right of Allah (Exalted be He) that attaches to minted currency; thus, it also attaches to that which is not minted, like Zakat. The disagreement concerns cases where he steals from broken pieces or ore an amount that does not equal a quarter of a standard dinar; if it reaches that, the cutting punishment applies. The dinar is the mithqal according to the standards of the people today, which is such that every seven of them equal ten dirhams. This is the same standard that existed during the time of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and before, and it has not changed. It was only the dirhams that differed, so they were gathered and every ten of them were made equivalent to seven mithqals; these are the ones to which cutting applies at a value of three of them, if they are pure, whether minted or unminted, according to what we mentioned regarding gold. According to Abu Hanifa, the threshold (nisab) only applies to the minted currency, and he mentioned what provides evidence for that. The same may be said regarding his view on dirhams, as the absolute use of the term refers to sound, minted coins, unlike a quarter of a dinar, though we have already mentioned a prior possibility regarding it, and this is even more applicable here. As for what is appraised in terms of these two [gold and silver], cutting is not mandatory until it reaches three sound dirhams, because the absolute use of the term refers to minted coins rather than broken ones. The third condition is that the stolen item must be wealth. If he steals what is not wealth, such as a free person, there is no cutting for it, whether the person is young or old. This is the view of al-Thawri (34), al-Shafi'i, Abu Thawr (35), the People of Opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y), and Ibn al-Mundhir.