Musnad Ahmad

It is narrated from Hazrat Bara’ (may Allah be pleased with him) that people passed by the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with a Jew whose face had been blackened and who had been flogged. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called one of their scholars (a priest) and said, “I ask you by Allah, Who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you find this as the punishment for adultery in your Book?” He swore and said, “No. If you had not made me swear such a great oath, I would never have informed you of this. In our Book, the punishment for adultery is stoning, but adultery became widespread among our nobles. So, when we caught a nobleman, we would let him go, and when we caught a weak person, we would carry out the punishment on him. Then we thought of setting a punishment that we could apply to both the noble and the weak, so we agreed on blackening the face and flogging.” Upon hearing this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O Allah! I am the first to revive Your command after they had made it dead.” Then, by the order of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Jew was stoned. On this occasion, Allah Almighty revealed this verse: “O Messenger! Let not those who hasten into disbelief grieve you, those who say, ‘If you are given this, take it’—meaning, go to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and if he gives you the verdict of blackening the face and flogging, accept it, but if he gives the verdict of stoning, then leave it.” Then, specifically regarding the Jews, it was said: “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such people are disbelievers.” Then, regarding all disbelievers, it was said: “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such people are wrongdoers.” “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such people are transgressors.” The narrator says that all three of these verses refer to the disbelievers.