Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Prophet’s ﷺ stoning of the two Jews was not based on reliance upon the distorted Torah. Rather, it was a ruling from Allah’s Law that He revealed to him, and it also agreed with the ruling of stoning that had remained in the Torah without being distorted, which the Jewish scholars had concealed.
Allah, Exalted is He, informed us that the People of the Book distorted, altered, and concealed parts of their scriptures. He said:
﴿So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands and then say, “This is from Allah,” to exchange it for a small price. So woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 79].
And He said:
﴿And indeed, there is a group among them who distort the Scripture with their tongues so that you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, “It is from Allah,” but it is not from Allah. And they knowingly tell lies about Allah﴾ [Al ‘Imran: 78].
And He said:
﴿Among the Jews are those who distort words from their proper places﴾ [An-Nisa’: 46].
And He said:
﴿So because of their breaking of the covenant, We cursed them and hardened their hearts. They distort words from their proper places and have forgotten a portion of what they were reminded of﴾ [Al-Ma’idah: 13].
However, the occurrence of distortion does not necessarily mean that the Torah was distorted in every passage. Rather, some truth remained in it, including the ruling of stoning that was present in it during the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
Ibn Hazm, may Allah have mercy on him, stated that Allah preserved in the earlier scriptures some of the truth contained in them as evidence against their people, despite the alterations, additions, and omissions that occurred in them.
It is authentically reported in the two Sahihs from Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, that a Jewish man and woman who had committed adultery were brought to the Prophet ﷺ. He asked them:
“What do you find in the Torah concerning one who commits adultery?”
They mentioned another punishment, so the Prophet ﷺ instructed them to bring the Torah and recite it.
When they read it and reached the verse concerning stoning, the person reading placed his hand over it. ‘Abdullah ibn Salam, may Allah be pleased with him, asked him to lift his hand, and the verse concerning stoning was found underneath it. The Prophet ﷺ then ordered that the man and woman be stoned.
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (7543) and Muslim (1699).
This indicates that the ruling of stoning was present in the Torah that they possessed, but some of their scholars attempted to conceal and suppress it.
It does not mean that the Prophet ﷺ referred to the Torah possessed by the People of the Book in order to derive the rulings of his own law from it.
Rather, he judged according to what Allah had revealed to him, and the fact that his ruling agreed with what remained authentic in the Torah was an agreement between two laws whose original source was revelation.
Allah, Exalted is He, said:
﴿And We have revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it and as a criterion over them. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed﴾ [Al-Ma’idah: 48].
And He said:
﴿But how is it that they come to you for judgment while they have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah?﴾ [Al-Ma’idah: 43].
Imam Ash-Shafi‘i, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that when the Prophet ﷺ judged between the Jews in this case, he judged according to what Allah had revealed to him, and that the authority to which one returns is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ.
Therefore, the most accurate way to put it is:
The ruling of stoning applied by the Prophet ﷺ was part of Islamic law revealed to him by Allah, and it coincided with the authentic ruling of stoning that remained preserved in the Torah at that point.
Stoning was not a ruling that the Prophet ﷺ took from the Torah. Rather, it is also established in Islamic law.
It is authentically reported from ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said that Allah revealed the verse concerning stoning, that the Prophet ﷺ stoned people, and that the Muslims stoned after him; and that stoning is obligatory upon the married adulterer when adultery is established through testimony, confession, or pregnancy, according to the details mentioned in the report.
Narrated by Al-Bukhari (6442) and Muslim (1691).
Ibn ‘Abd Al-Barr, may Allah have mercy on him, transmitted that the stoning of the married adulterer is established from the Prophet ﷺ and from the caliphs and Companions. He mentioned several cases in which it was carried out and concluded that stoning is an established ruling of Islamic law.
As for Allah’s saying:
﴿The fornicating woman and the fornicating man—flog each of them with one hundred lashes﴾ [An-Nur: 2],
the scholars mentioned in the source understood this verse as referring to those who are not married. As for the married adulterer, the ruling is stoning, as established by the authentic Sunnah.
The Gospel of John contains a passage recounting that a woman was accused of adultery and that some scribes and Pharisees said to Christ, peace be upon him, that Moses had commanded the stoning of such a woman. They then asked him for his opinion concerning her.
However, it is not correct to establish a religious ruling on this story for several reasons. Its authenticity cannot be established in the manner required for it to serve as evidence, and its context does not establish the abrogation of the ruling of stoning.
Moreover, the story itself does not mention that the prescribed punishment was carried out against her, nor is it established that the witnesses required to establish the legal punishment were present. Rather, the text states that those who accused her departed.
Therefore, it is not correct to claim that stoning was abrogated because of this story or because of what is found in the Gospel available today. Nor is it permissible to make the texts of distorted scriptures an authority over what has been established in Islamic law.
The Prophet’s ﷺ stoning of the two Jews was not based on the distorted Torah. Rather, it was the implementation of Allah’s ruling that He revealed to him as part of his law. At the same time, it agreed with the ruling of stoning that remained in the Torah and had not been distorted, while some Jewish scholars attempted to conceal and suppress it.
The previous scriptures were subject to distortion and alteration, but this does not mean that everything in them is false. Some truth may have remained in them. Nevertheless, Muslims do not treat them as an independent source of legislation, because the Qur’an is the criterion and authority over the previous scriptures, and the reference for rulings is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ.
And Allah knows best.