And it is required that it be a nisab, which is three dirhams or a quarter of a dinar, or an item whose value is like one of them.

The Shaykh :"And that it be three dirhams, and that the stolen item be a nisab" means that it is required for the amputation that the stolen item be a nisab. The nisab in every case is according to its specific context. In the chapter of zakah, the nisab of silver is two hundred dirhams and the nisab of gold is twenty dinars. Here, the nisab differs from that there. He says: "It is a quarter of a dinar or three dirhams, or an item whose value is like one of them". A quarter of a dinar: the dinar is a mithqal, and the mithqal is four grams. So what is a quarter of a dinar? It is one gram and one-sixteenth, meaning a quarter of a quarter. If a person steals from gold what weighs one gram and a quarter of a quarter, his hand is amputated, based on the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and it is in the two Sahihs. Accordingly, this hadith specifies the generality of the verse, which is the saying of Allah the Exalted: Its apparent meaning is generality, but this hadith specifies it, so there is no amputation for what is less than the nisab. The author said: "Or three dirhams". Dirhams are made of silver. The dirham is seven-tenths of a mithqal. So what are three dirhams? It is twenty-one sevenths, meaning two and one-tenth of a mithqal. "Or an item whose value is like one of them". An item means goods, such as a pen, a watch, a radio, a recorder, a garment, or the like. If its value equals a quarter of a dinar or three dirhams, then the hand is amputated; otherwise, it is not. Now, if someone says there is a difference between a quarter of a dinar and three dirhams, because three dirhams do not reach a quarter of a dinar, and if the value of the dinar or the value of a quarter of a dinar and three dirhams differ, which do we take? We say: as for the madhhab, you take the lesser of the two. If a person steals goods worth three dirhams and worth a quarter of a dinar, is the hand amputated or not? It is amputated according to the madhhab, because it says "or three dirhams." And if it is estimated that silver is more expensive than gold, and he steals something worth a full dinar but not worth three dirhams, is it amputated? Yes. So the nisab fluctuates between a quarter of a dinar and three dirhams. Do we consider the greater or the lesser? We consider the lesser. The second opinion in the issue is that the nisab is only a quarter of a dinar, not three dirhams. So if he steals something worth three dirhams but not worth a quarter of a dinar, there is no amputation for him. And if he steals what is worth a quarter of a dinar, then amputation is required for him, even if it is not worth three dirhams. This opinion is more correct because Aisha's hadith is explicit in it: As for the other hadith that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) , this is understood to mean that it equals a quarter of a dinar, and that three dirhams equal a quarter of a dinar at that time, and the dinar was twelve dirhams of silver. This opinion is more correct. So the nisab according to the madhhab is one of two things: either a quarter of a dinar or three dirhams. The correct opinion is that it is a quarter of a dinar.