He then rose and delivered a sermon—an eloquent discourse, for the verb ikhtaṭaba (to give a sermon) is more emphatic than khaṭaba because of the additional hamzah and tāʾ. Scholars of Arabic maintain that an increase in a word’s form signifies an increase in its meaning; in other words, extra letters convey extra force. In short, the word ikhtaṭaba here indicates that he delivered a powerful sermon.

He said, “What destroyed those who came before you”—that is, the previous nations—“was that when a person of high rank among them stole, they left him alone, but when a weak person stole, they applied the prescribed punishment.” Their ruin, then, came through their sins and the consequent divine chastisement. They would spare the thief of noble lineage yet punish the weak, so enforcing Allah’s limits became subject to their whims. This demonstrates that the peoples before us also suffered from theft and that the crime was widespread among rich and poor, noble and humble alike.

The Prophet ﷺ—truthful and trustworthy even without an oath—nevertheless swore, saying, “By Allah, if Fāṭimah, daughter of Muhammad, were to steal, I would cut off her hand.” May Allah send blessings and peace upon him. Such is true justice and such is the enforcement of Allah’s judgment, free from the sway of personal desire. He swore concerning Fāṭimah bint Muhammad, whose lineage and honor surpass that of the Makhzūmi woman, for she is the leader of the women of Paradise, that even she would lose her hand were she to steal.

As for his statement “I would cut off her hand,” scholars have two interpretations. The first—and stronger—view is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself would personally carry out the amputation.