The Makhzumi Woman: Even Fatimah

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

A noblewoman of Banū Makhzūm, Abū Jahl's tribe, was caught stealing, and her people, knowing the Prophet's ﷺ love for Usāmah ibn Zayd, sent him to plead that she be spared the punishment. When Usāmah asked, the Prophet ﷺ was angered: أَتَشْفَعُ فِي حَدٍّ مِنْ حُدُودِ اللَّه, "Do you intercede against one of the ḥadd-punishments of Allāh?" Then he gathered the people and gave the famous words, وَاللَّهِ لَوْ أَنَّ فَاطِمَةَ بِنْتَ مُحَمَّدٍ سَرَقَتْ لَقَطَعْتُ يَدَهَا, "By Allāh, were Fāṭimah the daughter of Muḥammad to steal, I would cut off her hand." The law does not spare the rich and noble while it falls on the poor; the ruin of nations before was exactly that they did.

ʿĀʾishah added that this same woman used to visit her afterward and would send her requests up to the Prophet ﷺ, which were granted, for once a punishment is carried out a person is not branded a criminal for life. One may intercede for good causes; one may not intercede to shield the guilty from a due punishment.