On the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Thawbān.

Glossary of the ḥadith
• liṣṣ – with a kasrah on the lām and a shaddah on the ṣād: a thief; plural liṣūṣ or liṣṣaṣa.
• “mā ikhāluka saraqt” – with a kasrah on the hamzah; from khāla, meaning “to suppose or imagine.” The wording was meant to prompt the man to retract his confession.
• “iqṭaʿū” – i.e. “cut off his hand.”
• “aḥsimūhu” – from ḥasama (“to cauterize”); when something is ḥusima it is cut and sealed. Here it refers to cauterizing the limb after amputation so that the blood does not flow. Jurists and early physicians described ḥasm as plunging the stump at the elbow joint into boiling oil so that the mouths of the vessels close and the bleeding stops.

Points derived from the ḥadith
1 – The report indicates that when a person admits to theft yet no stolen property is found with him, it is permissible—and even encouraged—to coach him to withdraw his confession, thereby creating a doubt that wards off the ḥadd of theft.

2 – The Prophet ﷺ did in fact coach the thief to retract by saying, “I do not think you actually stole.” The man nonetheless insisted on his confession even after the Prophet repeated the prompt two—or three—times. Once he persisted, nothing remained but to carry out Allah’s ruling, so his hand was severed.

3 – Therefore, if a thief confesses against himself, is coached to retract, yet persists, the ḥadd is applied and his hand is cut off.

4 – Al-Rawḍ al-Murbiʿ and its commentary state: “A hand is not severed except after two separate confessions of theft, and he may retract his confession until the cut is performed.” Al-Muwaffaq said, “This is the opinion of the majority of jurists, because the conviction rests solely on the confession, so his retraction is accepted.”