It was narrated that Bara’ bin Azib said: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed by a Jew with a blackened face who had been flogged. He called them and said: ‘Is this the punishment for the adulterer that you find in your Book?’ They said: ‘Yes.’ Then he called one of their scholars and said: ‘I adjure you by Allah (SWT) Who sent down the Tawrah (Torah) to Musa! Is this the punishment for the adulterer that you find in your Book?’ He said: ‘No; if you had not adjured me by Allah (SWT), I would not have told you. The punishment for the adulterer that we find in our Book is stoning, but many of our nobles were being stoned (because of the prevalence of adultery among them), so if we caught one of our nobles (committing adultery), we would let him go; but if we caught one of the weak among us, we would carry out the punishment on him. We said: “Come, let us agree upon something that we may impose on both noble and weak alike.” So we agreed to blacken the face and whip them, instead of stoning.’ The Prophet (ﷺ) ‘O Allah (SWT), I am the first of those who revive your command which they had killed off,’ and he issued orders that (the man) be stoned.”
Hadith In Arabic Text :
حدثنا علي بن محمد، حدثنا أبو معاوية، عن الأعمش، عن عبد الله بن مرة، عن البراء بن عازب، قال مر النبي بيهودي محمم مجلود فدعاهم فقال ” هكذا تجدون في كتابكم حد الزاني ” . قالوا نعم . فدعا رجلا من علمائهم فقال ” أنشدك بالله الذي أنزل التوراة على موسى أهكذا تجدون حد الزاني قال لا ولولا أنك نشدتني لم أخبرك نجد حد الزاني في كتابنا الرجم ولكنه كثر في أشرافنا فكنا إذا أخذنا الشريف تركناه وكنا إذا أخذنا الضعيف أقمنا عليه الحد . فقلنا تعالوا فلنجتمع على شىء نقيمه على الشريف والوضيع فاجتمعنا على التحميم والجلد مكان الرجم . فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم اللهم إني أول من أحيا أمرك إذ أماتوه ” . وأمر به فرجم .
Chapter : The Chapters on Legal Punishments – كتاب الحدود