The Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him that a man and woman from among them had committed unlawful sexual intercourse.
Authentic hadithعن عبدُ الله بنُ عمر رضي الله عنهما قال: «إن الْيهود جاءوا إلى رسول الله فَذَكَرُوا لَه: أَنَّ امرأة منهم وَرجلا زنيا. فَقَال لَهُمْ رَسُولُ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : مَا تَجِدُون في التَّوراة، في شأْن الرَّجم؟ فَقَالوا: نَفضحهم وَيُجْلَدُون. قَال عبد الله بن سَلام: كذبتم، فيهَا آية الرَّجْم، فَأَتَوْا بِالتَّوراة فَنَشَرُوهَا، فَوَضعَ أحدهم يَده عَلَى آيَة الرَّجْم فقرأ ما قبلها وما بعدها. فَقَال لَه عبد الله بن سَلام: ارْفَعْ يدَك. فَرَفَعَ يده، فَإذا فيهَا آيَةُ الرَّجم، فَقَال: صدَقَ يا محَمَّد، فأمر بِهِما النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَرُجِما. قَال: فرأيت الرَّجلَ: يَجْنَأُ عَلَى المرأة يَقِيهَا الْحجارة».
‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Jews came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and informed him that a man and a woman from among them had committed unlawful sexual intercourse. The Messenger (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) asked them: "What do you find in the Torah about stoning?" They said: "We disclose their sin and flog them." ‘Abdullāh ibn Salām said: "You have lied! The verse of stoning is there (in the Torah)." They fetched the Torah, spread it out, and one of them placed his hand over the verse of stoning. He recited what was before it and what was after it. Thereupon, ‘Abdullāh ibn Salām told him to lift his hand. He lifted his hand and there was the verse of stoning. They said: "He has spoken the truth, O Muhammad." So, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that they be stoned. ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar added: "I saw the man leaning over the woman to protect her from the stones."
Explanation
When a man and a woman from among the Jews committed adultery during the Prophet's time, the Jews came to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) seeking his judgment in the hope that they would get something lighter than the punishment of adultery in the Torah, which is stoning. So, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) asked them about Allah's judgment in the Torah, only to expose them, not to act upon it. They lied to him, saying that the judgment was to expose the adulterers. On hearing that, ‘Abdullāh ibn Salām (may Allah be pleased with him) said that they were lying. When they checked the Torah, they found the ruling of adultery, which is stoning the married adulterer. Hence, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) commanded the punishment to be inflicted on the adulterers. Our Islamic law is dominant over any other law and abrogates it. In this Hadīth, however, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) asked them about the ruling of the Torah on stoning the adulterer in order to establish the argument against them through their own book, which they claimed that it did not include the ruling of stoning the married adulterer. Furthermore, he aimed thereby to show them that all the books of Allah are in agreement on that eternal ruling which involves deterrence to the sinners.
Source · Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).