Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“May Allah curse the thief who steals an egg (or a shield), so his hand is cut off as a result; he steals a rope, so his hand is cut off as a result.”

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) There is a possibility that in this statement, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) meant by the word“egg”a piece of iron, or he meant an ostrich egg whose value is equal to or more than a quarter of a dinar. Similarly, by“rope”he meant a large rope that is used in deep wells or for boats in the sea. The reason is that among the people of Hijaz, most wells are deep, and the ropes attached to the buckets keep turning and are left in that state at night. The same is the case with the ropes of mounts (or boats), because when the mount is left, sometimes its ropes remain on land in such a state that moist air passes over them. So the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade touching any such thing with these words when a person takes it into his personal ownership. This does not mean that he forbade benefiting from it.