Digital Environment and the Provisions of Theft Under Islamic Law/البيئة الرّقميّة والسّرقة الحدّيّة

Abstract

This paper deals with an important issue concerning the relationship between Islamic sharia rules in the field of combating theft, the scientific development in the field of computers and the internet, and their uses in the evolution of methods of committing digital theft crime.

The paper is divided into four sections that look into the question of the applicability of the financial condition, the provision of taking money, the condition defining the security and protection of wealth, and the requirements of proving the crime of theft in Islamic Law.

The researcher concluded the possibility of applying the Islamic rules related to theft crime to electronic money in theory, and the difficulty of that in practice or reality due to some problems related to the nature of electronic money in some cases (information or data and programs). Other problems are related to proving the crime.

Therefore, the researcher recommends the necessity of legislative intervention to indicate the provisions applicable to this type of theft, and whether the rulings on this type of crime relate to the prescribed punishment for theft in Islamic Law or discretionary punishments.