In it (1) the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“O Usāmah, are you seeking to intercede concerning one of the limits ordained by Allah? What destroyed the Children of Israel was precisely this: when a noble person among them stole, they left him alone, but when a weak person stole, they carried out the prescribed penalty upon him. By Him in whose hand is my soul, were Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad to steal, I would sever her hand.” (2)

Banū Makhzūm were among the most eminent (3) clans of Quraysh, and it weighed heavily on them that a woman of their lineage should have her hand cut off. The Prophet ﷺ therefore made clear that the ruin of the Children of Israel lay in exempting their leaders from punishment. He further declared that if his own daughter Fāṭimah—the noblest of women—were to steal, and Allah has safeguarded her from that, he would cut off her hand. In this way he demonstrated that the obligation of justice and the equal application of ḥadd penalties admits no exception—not even for the daughter (4) of the Messenger, much less for anyone else.

This agrees with what is recorded in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Murrah (5) on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, who said: “A Jew, coated with tar and being flogged, passed by the Prophet ﷺ, and he called them and said: …”