Conditions for Hadd

For the hadd to apply to highway robbers, the following conditions must be met: **1. Legal Responsibility (Taklīf):** The person must have reached puberty and be sane to be considered a highway robber and have the hadd applied. The insane and children are not considered highway robbers, and the hadd is not applied to them due to their lack of legal responsibility. --- **2. Open Confrontation:** They must come openly and take property by force. - If they take it secretly → they are **thieves** - If they snatch and run → they are **plunderers** (no cutting for them) --- **3. Proven Guilt:** Their status as highway robbers must be established either by: - Their own confession, or - Testimony of two just witnesses (as with theft) --- **4. Property Must Be in Someone's Possession:** The property taken must be in someone's hand by force. If the property is abandoned and not in anyone's possession, the taker is not considered a highway robber.