The people passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with a Jew who was blackened with charcoal and who was being flogged.
He called them and said: Is this the prescribed punishment for a fornicator?
They said: Yes. He then called on a learned man among them and asked him: I adjure you by Allah Who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you find this prescribed punishment for a fornicator in your divine Book?
He said: By Allah, no. If you had not adjured me about this, I should not have informed you. We find stoning to be prescribed punishment for a fornicator in our Divine Book. But it (fornication) became frequent in our people of rank; so when we seized a person of rank, we left him alone, and when we seized a weak person, we inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. So we said: Come, let us agree on something which may be enforced equally on people of higher and lower rank. So we agreed to blacken the face of a criminal with charcoal, and flog him, and we abandoned stoning.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said: O Allah, I am the first to give life to Thy command which they have killed. So he commanded regarding him (the Jew) and he was stoned to death.
Allah Most High then sent down: "O Apostle, let not those who race one another into unbelief, make thee grieve..." up to "They say: If you are given this, take it, but if not, beware!...." up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) unbelievers," about Jews, up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the right of) what Allah hath revealed, they are no better than) wrong-doers" about Jews: and revealed the verses up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel." About this he said: This whole verse was revealed about the infidels.
Hadith Commentary: The Abrogation of Divine Law
This narration from Sunan Abi Dawud 4448 reveals a profound case of religious corruption where Jewish scholars deliberately altered Allah's prescribed punishment for fornication. The classical scholars explain that stoning (rajm) was indeed the original punishment in the Torah for married fornicators, but the Jewish community abandoned this divine command due to class discrimination.
Scholarly Analysis of Legal Corruption
Imam al-Nawawi comments that this hadith demonstrates the prohibition of applying different punishments based on social status. The Jewish scholars' innovation of blackening faces and flogging instead of stoning represents a clear distortion (tahrīf) of divine law.
Ibn al-Qayyim elaborates that this incident shows how religious communities can gradually abandon divine commandments through rationalization and social convenience, ultimately replacing Allah's wisdom with human opinion.
Prophetic Restoration of Divine Justice
The Prophet's declaration "I am the first to give life to Thy command which they have killed" signifies the Islamic mission to restore authentic divine legislation. Classical commentators note that by implementing the original Torah punishment, the Prophet validated the previous revelation while establishing Islamic authority.
Quranic Revelation Context
The verses referenced (from Surah al-Ma'idah) were revealed concerning this incident, condemning those who selectively apply divine law. Scholars like Ibn Kathir explain that these verses establish the obligation of ruling by what Allah revealed without discrimination or alteration.
Legal Implications in Islamic Jurisprudence
This hadith forms the basis for the prescribed punishment (hadd) for fornication in Islamic law. The classical schools of jurisprudence derive from this that stoning remains the punishment for married fornicators (muhsan), while the Jewish abandonment of this punishment serves as a warning against compromising divine legislation for worldly considerations.