A Jewish man who had been blackened with soot and flogged was brought past the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ called out to the Jews and asked, "Is this how you find the punishment for an adulterer in your scripture?"They replied, "Yes."He then summoned one of their scholars and said to him, "I adjure you by Allah, who sent down the Torah to Musa, is this how you find the punishment for an adulterer in your scripture?"The man answered, "No. Were it not that you have adjured me by this, I would not have told you. We find it to be stoning. But adultery became widespread among our nobles, so whenever we caught a noble, we let him go, and whenever we caught a weak person, we carried out the punishment on him. We said, 'Come, let us agree on something we can apply to both the noble and the lowly,' so we settled on blackening with soot and flogging in place of stoning."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "O Allah, I am the first to revive Your command when they had killed it." He then ordered that the man be stoned, and he was stoned.Then Allah Almighty revealed, "Messenger, let not those who hasten into disbelief grieve you," up to His statement, "If you are given this, take it" [Maidah 5:41]. They were saying, "Go to Muhammad ﷺ. If he commands you with blackening and flogging, accept it, but if he gives you a verdict of stoning, beware."Then Allah Almighty revealed, "And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, those are the disbelievers," "And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, those are the wrongdoers," "And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, those are the defiantly disobedient" [Maidah 5:44–45, 47]. All of these were revealed concerning the disbelievers.
مر على النبي ﷺ بيهودي محتما مجلودا، فدعاهم النبي ﷺ، فقال: هكذا تجدون حد الزاني في كتابكم؟ قالوا: نعم. فدعا رجلا من علمائهم، فقال: أنشدك بالله الذي أنزل التوراة على موسى أهكذا تجدون حد الزاني في كتابكم؟ قال: لا، ولولا أنك نشدتني بهذا، لم أخبرك، نجده الرجم، ولكنه كثر في أشرافنا، فكنا إذا أخذنا الشريف، تركناه. وإذا أخذنا الضعيف، أقمنا عليه الحد. قلنا: تعالوا فلنجتمع على شيء نقيمه على الشريف والوضيع، فجعلنا التحميم والجلد مكان الرجم. فقال رسول الله ﷺ: اللهم إني أول من أحيا أمرك إذ أماتوه. فأمر به فرجم، فأنزل الله تعالى {يا أيها الرسول لا يحزنك الذين يسارعون في الكفر} إلى قوله {إن أوتيتم هذا فخذوه} يقول: ائتوا محمدا ﷺ، فإن أمركم بالتحميم والجلد فخذوه، وإن أفتاكم بالرجم فاحذروا. فأنزل الله تعالى {ومن لم يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الكافرون} {ومن لم يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الظالمون} {ومن لم يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الفاسقون} [سورة المائدة: ٤٤-٤٥، ٤٧] في الكفار كلها.