There is no amputation for stealing from the public treasury, because everything there is the common property of all Muslims, and in which the thief, as a member of the community has a share. And if a person steal from property of which he is in part owner, amputation is not inflicted. Nor if a creditor steal from his debt is the hand cut off.
The right hand of the thief is to be cut off at the joint of the wrist and the stump afterwards cauterised, and for the second theft the left foot, and for any theft beyond that he must suffer imprisonment.
AL-LĀT (اللات). The name of an idol worshipped by the ancient Arabians, probably the Alilat of Herodotus. The idol Lāt is mentioned in the Qurʾān in conjunction with the two other idols, al-ʿUzzā and Manāt. See [Sūrah liii. 19]: “What think ye, then, of al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third idol besides?”
In connection with this verse there is an interesting discussion. (See Muir, new ed. p. 86.) Al-Wāqidī and at̤-T̤abarī both relate that, on a certain day, the chief men of Makkah assembled in a group beside the Kaʿbah, discussed, as was their wont, the affairs of the city, when the Prophet appeared, and seating himself by them in a friendly manner, began to recite the 53rd chapter of the Qurʾān; and when he had reached the verse “What think ye then of al-Lāt, and al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third idol besides?” the Devil suggested words of reconciliation and compromise with idolatry, namely, “These are exalted females, and verily their intercession is to be hoped for.” These words, however, which were received by the idolaters with great delight, were afterwards disavowed by the Prophet, for Gabriel revealed to him the true reading, namely, “What think ye then of al-Lāt, and al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third idol besides? Shall ye have male progeny and God female? This, then, were an unjust partition! Verily, these are mere names which ye and your fathers have given them.”
The narrative thus related by al-Wāqidī and at̤-T̤abarī is given as an explanation of [Sūrah xxii. 51]: “Nor have we sent any apostle or prophet before thee into whose readings Satan hath not injected some wrong desire.”
AL-LAT̤ĪF (اللطيف). “The Mysterious or the Subtle One.” One of the ninety-nine attributes of God. [Sūrah vi. 103]: “For He is the Subtle (al-Lat̤īf), the All-informed (al-K͟habīr).
LAT̤ĪFAH (لطيفة). A term used by Ṣūfī mystics for any sign or influence in the soul, derived from God, which has such a mysterious effect on the heart that mortal man cannot express it in language, just as a delicious taste in the mouth cannot be exactly expressed by the tongue. (Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrīfāt, in loco.)
LAUGHING. Arabic ẓaḥk, ẓiḥk (ضحك). Heb. צָחַק. ([Gen. xviii. 13].) Immoderate laughing is generally condemned by Muḥammadan teachers, for ʿĀyishah relates that Muḥammad “never laughed a full laugh so that the inside of his mouth could be seen; he only smiled.” (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. vii.)
AL-LAUḤU ʾL-MAḤFŪZ̤ (اللوح المحفوظ). “The preserved tablet.”
In the Ḥadīs̤ and in theological works it is used to denote the tablet on which the decrees of God were recorded with reference to mankind. In the Qurʾān it only occurs once, when it refers to the Qurʾān itself. [Sūrah lxxxv. 21, 22]: “It is a glorious Qurʾān written on the preserved table.” The plural alwāḥ occurs in [Sūrah vii. 142], for the tables of the law given to Moses.