There happened to pass by Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) a Jew blackened and lashed. Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) called them (the Jews) and said: Is this the punishment that you find in your Book (Torah) as a prescribed punishment for adultery? They said: Yes. He (the Holy Prophet) called one of the scholars amongst them and said: I ask you in the name of Allah Who sent down the Torah on Moses if that is the prescribed punishment for adultery that you find in your Book. He said: No. Had you not asked me in the name of Allah, I would not have given you this information. We find stoning to death (as punishment prescribed in the Torah). But this (crime) became quite common amongst our aristocratic class. So when we caught hold of any rich person (indulging in this offence) we spared him, but when we caught hold of a helpless person we imposed the prescribed punishment upon him. We then said: Let us argree (on a punishment) which we can inflict both upon the rich and the poor. So We decided to blacken the face with coal and flog as a substitute punishment for stoning. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: O Allah, I am the first to revive Thy command when they had made it dead. He then commanded and he (the offender) was stoned to death. Allah, the Majestic and Glorious, sent down (this verse):" O Messenger, (the behaviour of) those who vie with one another in denying the truth should not grieve you..." up to" is vouchsafed unto you, accept it" (v. 41) 2176 It was said (by the Jews): Go to Muhammad; it he commands you to blacken the face and award flogging (as punishment for adultery), then accept it, but it he gives verdict for stoning, then avoid it. It was (then) that Allah, the Majestic and Great, sent down (these verses):" And they who do not judge in accordance with what Allah has revealed are, indeed, deniers of the truth" (v. 44) ;" And they who do not judge in accordance with what Allah has revealed-they, they indeed are the wrongdoers" (v. 45) ;" And they who do not judge in accordance with what God has revealed-they are the iniquitous (v. 47). (All these verses) were revealed in connection with the non-believers.
Contextual Background
This narration from Sahih Muslim 1700a recounts a pivotal moment when the Jewish community of Medina had abandoned the divine punishment for adultery prescribed in their scripture, substituting it with a lesser punishment they invented.
Scholarly Commentary on the Incident
The Prophet's inquiry demonstrates the Islamic principle of verifying religious matters with people of knowledge, even from previous religious communities, when necessary for establishing truth.
The Jewish scholar's admission reveals how religious corruption occurs when aristocratic classes exempt themselves from divine law while enforcing it upon the weak, creating dual standards of justice.
Allah's Messenger declaring himself "the first to revive Thy command" establishes the prophetic role of restoring neglected divine ordinances, emphasizing that abrogated laws from previous scriptures remain valid unless specifically altered by new revelation.
Legal and Theological Implications
This hadith confirms stoning (rajm) as the prescribed punishment for married adulterers in Islamic law, demonstrating continuity with previous Abrahamic legal traditions.
The subsequent Quranic revelations (5:41-47) condemn those who selectively accept or reject divine commandments based on their desires, establishing the principle that Muslims must implement Allah's complete legislation without alteration or preference.
Classical scholars note this incident illustrates the prohibition of innovating in religious matters (bid'ah) and the obligation to implement punishments equally upon rich and poor without distinction.
Contemporary Relevance
This narration serves as a timeless warning against the human tendency to modify divine law to suit social status, political convenience, or changing cultural norms.
It emphasizes that divine justice must be applied uniformly, and that scholarly integrity requires speaking truth even when contrary to community practice or powerful interests.