But they refused to accept it.
Gabriel, peace be upon him, said to him: “Make Ibn Suriyya the arbiter between you and them,” and he described him to him.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to them: “Do you know a beardless, one-eyed young man who lives in Fadak, called Ibn Suriyya?” They replied, “Yes.” He asked, “What kind of man is he among you?” They said, “He is the most learned Jew remaining on the face of the earth concerning what Allah sent down to Moses, peace be upon him, in the Torah.”
He said, “Send for him.” So they did, and he came to them. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him, “Are you Ibn Suriyya?” He replied, “Yes.” He said, “And are you the most learned of the Jews?” He replied, “That is what they claim.” He said, “Will you appoint him as arbiter between me and you?” They replied, “Yes.”
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him: “I adjure you by Allah, besides whom there is no god—the One who sent down the Torah to Moses, peace be upon him; who brought you out of Egypt; who parted the sea for you, saved you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh; who shaded you with clouds, sent down manna and quails for you, and sent down to you His Book containing what is lawful and unlawful for you: do you find in your Book the penalty of stoning for one who has been married?”
Ibn Suriyya said, “Yes, by Him of whom you have reminded me. Were it not for fear that the Torah would burn me if I lied or altered it, I would not have admitted it to you. But how is it prescribed in your Book, O Muhammad?” He replied: “If four upright witnesses testify that he penetrated her as a kohl-stick enters a kohl-container, then stoning becomes obligatory for him.” Ibn Suriyya said, “By Him who sent down the Torah to Moses, this is how Allah sent it down in the Torah to Moses, peace be upon him.”
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then said to him: “What was the first occasion on which you relaxed Allah’s command?” He replied, “Whenever we apprehended a nobleman, we let him go; but whenever we apprehended a weak person, we enforced the prescribed punishment upon him. Then adultery became widespread among our nobles, until the cousin of one of our kings committed adultery, yet we did not stone him. Then another man from the people committed adultery, and that king wanted to stone him, but his people intervened and said: ‘By Allah, you will not stone him until so-and-so’—meaning the king’s cousin—‘is stoned.’ So we said, ‘Come, let us agree upon something short of stoning that will apply equally to the lowly and the noble.’ Thus, we instituted flogging and blackening: they were to be whipped with forty lashes using a rope coated in tar, then their faces were blackened. They were then mounted upon two donkeys, facing the donkeys’ hindquarters, and paraded. They made this a substitute for stoning.”
The Jews said to Ibn Suriyya (1), “How quickly you told him of it! We were not worthy of the praise we gave you, but you were absent, and we disliked speaking ill of you behind your back.” He said to them, “He adjured me by the Torah, and were it not for fear that the Torah would destroy me, I would not have told him.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then ordered that they be stoned at the entrance to his mosque, and he said: “O Allah,”