Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib:

The people passed by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with a Jew who was blackened with charcoal and who was being flogged.

He called them and said: Is this the prescribed punishment for a fornicator?

They said: Yes. He then called on a learned man among them and asked him: I adjure you by Allah Who revealed the Torah to Moses, do you find this prescribed punishment for a fornicator in your divine Book?

He said: By Allah, no. If you had not adjured me about this, I should not have informed you. We find stoning to be prescribed punishment for a fornicator in our Divine Book. But it (fornication) became frequent in our people of rank; so when we seized a person of rank, we left him alone, and when we seized a weak person, we inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. So we said: Come, let us agree on something which may be enforced equally on people of higher and lower rank. So we agreed to blacken the face of a criminal with charcoal, and flog him, and we abandoned stoning.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said: O Allah, I am the first to give life to Thy command which they have killed. So he commanded regarding him (the Jew) and he was stoned to death.

Allah Most High then sent down: "O Apostle, let not those who race one another into unbelief, make thee grieve..." up to "They say: If you are given this, take it, but if not, beware!...." up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) unbelievers," about Jews, up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the right of) what Allah hath revealed, they are no better than) wrong-doers" about Jews: and revealed the verses up to "And if any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel." About this he said: This whole verse was revealed about the infidels.

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْعَلاَءِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ مُرَّةَ، عَنِ الْبَرَاءِ بْنِ عَازِبٍ، قَالَ مُرَّ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ بِيَهُودِيٍّ مُحَمَّمٍ مَجْلُودٍ فَدَعَاهُمْ فَقَالَ " هَكَذَا تَجِدُونَ حَدَّ الزَّانِي " . فَقَالُوا نَعَمْ . فَدَعَا رَجُلاً مِنْ عُلَمَائِهِمْ قَالَ لَهُ " نَشَدْتُكَ بِاللَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ التَّوْرَاةَ عَلَى مُوسَى هَكَذَا تَجِدُونَ حَدَّ الزَّانِي فِي كِتَابِكُمْ " . فَقَالَ اللَّهُمَّ لاَ وَلَوْلاَ أَنَّكَ نَشَدْتَنِي بِهَذَا لَمْ أُخْبِرْكَ نَجِدُ حَدَّ الزَّانِي فِي كِتَابِنَا الرَّجْمَ وَلَكِنَّهُ كَثُرَ فِي أَشْرَافِنَا فَكُنَّا إِذَا أَخَذْنَا الرَّجُلَ الشَّرِيفَ تَرَكْنَاهُ وَإِذَا أَخَذْنَا الرَّجُلَ الضَّعِيفَ أَقَمْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْحَدَّ فَقُلْنَا تَعَالَوْا فَنَجْتَمِعَ عَلَى شَىْءٍ نُقِيمُهُ عَلَى الشَّرِيفِ وَالْوَضِيعِ فَاجْتَمَعْنَا عَلَى التَّحْمِيمِ وَالْجَلْدِ وَتَرَكْنَا الرَّجْمَ . فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ " اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَوَّلُ مَنْ أَحْيَا أَمْرَكَ إِذْ أَمَاتُوهُ " . فَأَمَرَ بِهِ فَرُجِمَ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ { يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ لاَ يَحْزُنْكَ الَّذِينَ يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْكُفْرِ } إِلَى قَوْلِهِ { يَقُولُونَ إِنْ أُوتِيتُمْ هَذَا فَخُذُوهُ وَإِنْ لَمْ تُؤْتَوْهُ فَاحْذَرُوا } إِلَى قَوْلِهِ { وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ } فِي الْيَهُودِ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ { وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ } فِي الْيَهُودِ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ { وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ } قَالَ هِيَ فِي الْكُفَّارِ كُلُّهَا يَعْنِي هَذِهِ الآيَةَ .