55.

Book of Legal Punishments

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كتاب الحدود

Jabir ibn Abdullah reported: The Jews came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with a man and a woman from among them who had committed adultery. He said, “What do you find in your Book, the Torah, regarding stoning?” They said, “We only pronounce of them the legal punishments.” So the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, called for their book to be brought, and it was brought. Then he called for a young man from among the Ansar who knew how to read Hebrew. The young man read the Torah until he reached the verse of stoning. One of the Jewish men put his hand over the verse and began to read what was before it and after it. The Prophet said, “Remove your hand!” So the young man removed his hand and the verse of stoning appeared. The Jew said, “By the One who revealed the Torah to Moses, Muhammad has brought the truth!” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Bring me their two most learned men.” So they brought two of the sons of Surra. The Prophet asked them, “What punishment do you find in the Torah for those who commit adultery?” They said, “We find that they should be stoned, but we have substituted it with a lesser punishment of flogging one hundred times and blackening the face.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Why do you conceal the punishment of Allah?” They said, “Our leaders began to fornicate, and when they found a noble man had done it they would stone him, but when they found a poor or weak man had done it they would flog him. So we made this substitution as a mercy for ourselves.” Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, called for the witnesses. All four of them gave the same explicit testimony. He commanded they be stoned to death.