From: krueger@athena.mit.edu 
Subject: potong tangan!
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 21:37:45 GMT

i think there has been a lot of concern about this matter that i have to clarify
as best as i can. it is not as horrifying as it seems. 

once, during the caliphate of ali, his sword was stolen by a man. actually ali either
misplaced it or he put it in his house but didn't close the door(i'm not sure,
someone please clarify this). he was very unhappy since that was his favorite
sword. then, he saw the man who stole it having his sword somewhere. he accused the
man for stealing his sword. the man said that he found it. so, ali ( the ruler
at that time ) ask someone to be the judge and the judge decided that the sword
rightfully belongs to the man since ali had been careless. 

in another story, during the caliphate of umar or abu bakar or usman (again, i'm
not sure, don't quote me on this). there was a boy who stole a cattle. he was caught. but he said that
his family was starving. so, the caliph at that time ruled that he was innocent
because the state should have done something to prevent poverty. the boy was
merely trying to stay alive. 

disclaimer: the stories that i just told might not be as exact as the original
ones, but, they are close enough, without losing their meanings. 
can someone who knows please clarify them, just so they have better credibility?
maybe those of you still in malaysia or singapore can dig these up since you have
better access to these kind of materials. i think it is our obligation, as a
muslim, to clear things up for non-muslims and other muslims too. 

so, you see, in islamic law it is not so easy to get amputated. you get amputated 
only if you're stealing without any good reason (e.g. to get rich easily or
you're just too lazy to earn your own money). and there are much more things you
 have to verify in order to convict someone. 

you must understand that islamic law tries to prevent something from happening,
instead of stopping it when it's already too late. those horrifying laws are
prevention measures. would you steal if you saw someone got amputated in front of
your very own eyes? i think (my opinion, okay?), if someone got amputated, the
event would have prevented any other stealing in maybe a few years. so the net
effect might be that there would be one-hand-loss in two or five years. and the
cycle might start again... ain't it fun??? `8)

in any case, if you're not a muslim, islamic law is not applicable to you. so,
you can just savor the magic moment when THE hand falls off the arm of a boy, who
screams in terror, as he watches the fingers, HIS fingers, wiggling, trying to get
 rid of the excruciating pain. the hand keeps falling, and falling, and falling...
obeying the call of gravity. seems like an eternity. but, patience my boy, just
be patient. and finally, THUMP! a lifeless thump. the hand struck the cement floor. blood
splattered everywhere around the lifeless hand. even the fingers stop wiggling.
as if drained of life. blood oozing slowly form the cut vein. creating abstract
images. even a mandelbrot! then, everything seems so quiet. the boy had
stopped screaming. but you can still hear his heart thumping heavily, pumping blood crazily into his brain, trying to make up the
loss of blood from his arm. not even his screams can screen those thumping
sounds from his heart. man... what a pleasure....... another two years... just be
patient.

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