Allah said:
﴿يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ مِن بَعْدِ
مَوَضِعِهِ﴾
(They change the words from their places:) by altering their meanings and knowingly
distorting them after they comprehended them,
﴿يَقُولُونَ إِنْ أُوتِيتُمْ هَـذَا
فَخُذُوهُ وَإِن لَّمْ تُؤْتَوْهُ فَاحْذَرُواْ﴾
(they say, "If you are given this, take it, but if you are not given this, then
beware!") It was reported that this part of the Ayah was revealed about some Jews
who committed murder and who said to each other, "Let us ask Muhammad to judge between
us, and if he decides that we pay the Diyah, accept his judgement. If he decides
on capital punishment, do not accept his judgement.'' The correct opinion is that
this Ayah was revealed about the two Jews who committed adultery. The Jews changed
the law they had in their Book from Allah on the matter of punishment for adultery,
from stoning to death, to a hundred flogs and making the offenders ride a donkey
facing the back of the donkey. When this incident of adultery occurred after the
Hijrah, they said to each other, "Let us go to Muhammad and seek his judgement.
If he gives a ruling of flogging, then implement his decision and make it a proof
for you with Allah. This way, one of Allah's Prophets will have upheld this ruling
amongst you. But if he decides that the punishment should be stoning to death, then
do not accept his decision.'' There are several Hadiths mentioning this story. Malik
reported that Nafi` said that `Abdullah bin `Umar said, "The Jews came to Allah's
Messenger and mentioned that a man and a woman from them committed adultery. Allah's
Messenger said to them,
«مَا تَجِدُونَ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ فِي
شَأْنِ الرَّجْمِ؟»
(What do find of the ruling about stoning in the Tawrah) They said, `We only find
that they should be exposed and flogged.' `Abdullah bin Salam said, `You lie. The
Tawrah mentions stoning, so bring the Tawrah.' They brought the Tawrah and opened
it but one of them hid the verse about stoning with his hand and recited what is
before and after that verse. `Abdullah bin Salam said to him, `Remove your hand,'
and he removed it, thus uncovering the verse about stoning. So they said, He (`Abdullah
bin Salam) has said the truth, O Muhammad! It is the verse about stoning.' The Messenger
of Allah decided that the adulterers be stoned to death and his command was carried
out. I saw that man shading the woman from the stones with his body.'' Al-Bukhari
and Muslim also collected this Hadith and this is the wording collected by Al-Bukhari.
In another narration by Al-Bukhari, the Prophet said to the Jews,
«مَا تَصْنَعُون بِهِمَا؟»
(What would you do in this case) They said, "We would humiliate and expose them.''
The Prophet recited,
﴿قُلْ فَأْتُواْ بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا
إِن كُنتُمْ﴾
(Bring here the Tawrah and recite it, if you are truthful.) So they brought a man
who was blind in one eye and who was respected among them and said to him, "Read
(from the Tawrah).'' So he read until he reached a certain verse and then covered
it with his hand. He was told, "Remove your hand,'' and it was the verse about stoning.
So that man said, "O Muhammad! This is the verse about stoning, and we had hid its
knowledge among us.'' So the Messenger ordered that the two adulterers be stoned,
and they were stoned. Muslim recorded that a Jewish man and a Jewish woman were
brought before Allah's Messenger because they committed adultery. The Messenger
of Allah went to the Jews and asked them,
«مَا تَجِدُونَ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ عَلى
مَنْ زَنَى؟»
(What is the ruling that you find in the Tawrah for adultery) hThey said, "We expose
them, carry them (on donkeys) backwards and parade them in public.'' The Prophet
recited;
﴿قُلْ فَأْتُواْ بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا
إِن كُنتُمْ﴾
(Bring here the Tawrah and recite it, if you are truthful.) So they brought the
Tawrah and read from it until the reader reached the verse about stoning. Then he
placed his hand on that verse and read what was before and after it. `Abdullah bin
Salam, who was with the Messenger of Allah , said, "Order him to remove his hand,''
and he removed his hand and under it was the verse about stoning. So the Messenger
of Allah commanded that the adulterers be stoned, and they were stoned. `Abdullah
bin `Umar said, "I was among those who stoned them and I saw the man shading the
woman from the stones with his body.'' Abu Dawud recorded that Ibn `Umar said, "Some
Jews came to the Messenger of Allah and invited him to go to the Quff area. So he
went to the house of Al-Midras and they said, `O Abu Al-Qasim! A man from us committed
adultery with a woman, so decide on their matter.' They arranged a pillow for the
Messenger of Allah and he sat on it and said,
«ائْتُونِي بِالتَّوْرَاة»
(Bring the Tawrah to me.) He was brought the Tawrah and he removed the pillow from
under him and placed the Tawrah on it, saying,
«آمَنْتُ بِكِ وَبِمَنْ أَنْزَلَك»
(I trust you and He Who revealed it to you.) He then said,
«ائْتُونِي بِأَعْلَمِكُم»
(Bring me your most knowledgeable person.) So he was brought a young man... '' and
then he mentioned the rest of the story that Malik narrated from Nafi`. These Hadiths
state that the Messenger of Allah issued a decision that conforms with the ruling
in the Tawrah, not to honor the Jews in what they believe in, for the Jews were
commanded to follow the Law of Muhammad only. Rather, the Prophet did this because
Allah commanded him to do so. He asked them about the ruling of stoning in the Tawrah
to make them admit to what the Tawrah contains and what they collaborated to hide,
deny and exclude from implementing for all that time. They had to admit to what
they did, although they did it while having knowledge of the correct ruling. What
made them go to the Prophet for judgement in this matter was their lusts and desires,
hoping that the Prophet would agree with their opinion, not that they believed in
the correctness of his judgment. This is why they said,
﴿إِنْ أُوتِيتُمْ هَـذَا﴾
(If you are given this,) referring to flogging, then take it,
﴿وَإِن لَّمْ تُؤْتَوْهُ فَاحْذَرُواْ﴾
(but if you are not given this, then beware!) and do not accept or implement it.
Allah said next,
﴿وَمَن يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتْنَتَهُ
فَلَن تَمْلِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئاً أُوْلَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ
أَن يُطَهِّرَ قُلُوبَهُمْ لَهُمْ فِى الدُّنْيَا خِزْىٌ وَلَهُمْ فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ
عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌسَمَّـعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ أَكَّـلُونَ لِلسُّحْتِ﴾
(And whomsoever Allah wants to put in Fitnah, you can do nothing for him against
Allah. Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not want to purify; for them there
is a disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a great torment. They (like to)
listen to falsehood, to devour Suht) `Suht' refers to bribes, as Ibn Mas`ud and
others stated. The Ayah states that if one is like this, how can Allah cleanse his
heart and accept his supplication Allah said to His Prophet ,
﴿فَإِن جَآءُوكَ﴾
(So if they come to you...) so that you judge between them,
﴿فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ أَوْ أَعْرِضْ
عَنْهُمْ وَإِن تُعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ فَلَن يَضُرُّوكَ شَيْئاً﴾
(either judge between them, or turn away from them. If you turn away from them,
they cannot hurt you in the least.) meaning, there is no harm if you do not judge
between them. This is because when they came to you to judge between them, they
did not seek to follow the truth, but only what conformed to their lusts. We should
mention here that Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, As-Suddi, Zayd
bin Aslam, `Ata' Al-Khurasani, and several others said that this part of the Ayah
was abrogated by Allah's statement,
﴿وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ
اللَّهُ﴾
(And so judge among them by what Allah has revealed.)
﴿وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَاحْكُم بَيْنَهُم
بِالْقِسْطِ﴾
(And if you judge, judge with justice between them.) and with fairness, even if
the Jews were unjust and outcasts from the path of fairness,
﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ﴾
(Verily, Allah loves those who act justly.)
ICTruth.info