Muwatta 2432

Malik transmits from Yahya ibn Said, from Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Hibban, that a slave stole a palm seedling from a man's orchard and planted it in his master's orchard. The owner of the orchard complained to Marwan ibn al-Hakam, who imprisoned the slave and wanted to cut off his hand. The slave's master went to Rafi ibn Khadij and told him that the Prophet ﷺ said: there is no cutting for fruit or for the kathr, and kathr is the heart of the palm. Rafi walked with the master to Marwan and told him, and Marwan ordered the slave released. The editor notes Ibn Abd al-Barr's view that the report is broken in Malik's transmission, and that it has connected routes from Rafi. ¹

Belongs to the Muwatta, Book of Prescribed Punishments (hudud). Source: the Muwatta. Mentions Yahya ibn Said al-Ansari, Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Hibban, Rafi ibn Khadij, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Malik ibn Anas. Built on in the chapters on theft (sariqa).