The grave-robber who steals shrouds (nabbash)

النَّبَّاش

A nabbash is one who digs up graves to steal the shrouds of the dead after burial; nabbasha is the trade of digging up graves, and a thief is a wider term. All agree that it is forbidden, but the jurists differ on whether he is a thief whose hand is cut. The majority (Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf) cut the hand for stealing the minimum value, since the grave is by custom the shroud's safe-keeping, citing a report from Aisha and Ibn al-Zubayr's cutting of a nabbash at Arafat. Abu Hanifa, Muhammad and others say there is no cut, citing the saying 'no cutting for the one who hides', a weak hadith, and because people shun shrouds and so they are not kept safely. Conditions of the cut differ: the grave must be deep and levelled, the shroud must come out of the whole grave, and the dead must be in it; the Shafi'is hold that the sea is no safe-keeping. For the Shafi'is the owner of the shroud is the claimant, and for the Hanbalis the heirs. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}