The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): A woman from Khaybar who was of noble lineage among them committed adultery with a man from among their nobles, and both were muhsan (married). They did not want the two to be stoned. So they sent someone to the Jews of Medina and wrote to them to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) about the ruling on their adultery, hoping that a dispensation would be issued for them. So a group of them, including Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, Ka'b ibn Usayd, Shu'ba ibn Amr, Malik ibn al-Dayf, Kinana ibn Abi al-Huqayq and others, set out and went to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Inform us of the punishment of the muhsan man and woman who commit adultery." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Will you be satisfied with my judgement in that matter?" They said: "Yes." Jibra'il (peace be upon him) descended with the ruling of stoning, and he informed them of it. After that they refused to accept the ruling. Jibra'il said: "Place Ibn Suriya as an intermediary between yourself and them." Jibra'il explained his characteristics to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to the Jews: "Do you know a young man, freshly grown, beardless and one-eyed, who resides in Fadak, called Ibn Suriya?" They said: "Yes." He said: "What kind of man is he among you?" They said: "The most learned Jew regarding the Torah remaining on the face of the earth." He said: "Send someone and bring him here." They did so, and Abd Allah ibn Suriya came into the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the Jews. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to him: "I adjure you by the One Allah, the One who sent down the Torah upon Musa (peace be upon him), and split the sea for you to save you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh in the water, and cast the masses of cloud as shade over you, and sent down to you manna and quail. Is the ruling of stoning the muhsan man and woman who commit adultery specified in your book?" Ibn Suriya said: "By the Torah with which Allah has admonished me, yes; if it were not for the fear that if I deny the Torah or alter it the Allah of the Torah would burn me, I would not tell you." O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Tell me, how is the ruling of stoning in your book? He said: "If four just witnesses from the people testify that the muhsan man inserted his organ as the kohl-stick is inserted into the kohl-container, then stoning is obligatory." Ibn Suriya said: "In the Torah of Musa the ruling is also this way." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "What allowed you to take the ruling of stoning lightly?" Ibn Suriya said: "Whenever a noble person committed such an act we would let him go, and if a weak and destitute person committed adultery we would carry out the ruling of stoning on him. As a result, adultery became widespread among our nobles, until the cousin of the king committed adultery and we did not stone him; but another man who committed adultery — the king wanted to carry out the punishment of stoning on him. The people said to the king: No, first stone your cousin. We said: come, let us hold a session so that we may enact a law less than stoning, one that is the same for the poor and the wealthy. So we enacted flogging and blackening of the face — meaning that they would be given forty lashes, then their faces would be blackened, then the adulterer and the adulteress would be seated backwards on a donkey and the donkey would be led around." The Jews adopted this method in place of stoning. The Jews said to Ibn Suriya: "How quickly you informed the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)! When we praised you, you were not worthy of praise. But you were absent and we did not wish to speak ill of you." He said: "The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) adjured me by the Torah; had he not done so I would not have informed him." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) ordered that the adulterer and adulteress be stoned in front of the masjid, and said: "After the Jewish people disregarded this ruling, I am the reviver of this ruling." After this event, Allah the Glorious revealed this verse: يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ كَثِيرًا مِمَّا كُنْتُمْ تُخْفُونَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ [O People of the Book! Our Messenger has come to you making clear to you much of what you used to hide of the Book, and pardoning much]. Ibn Suriya stood up and placed his two hands on the knees of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Then he said: "This is the position of one seeking refuge in Allah and in you. So explain to us the matters concerning which you have been commanded to pardon." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) refrained from answering the question. Then Ibn Suriya asked about his sleep. He said: "My eyes go to sleep while my heart is awake." Ibn Suriya said: "You speak truly. Inform me of the matter of the child's resemblance to his father and lack of resemblance to his mother, or the reverse — resembling his mother and bearing no resemblance to his father." The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Whichever one's water has surpassed and preceded the water of the other, [the child resembles that one more]." He said: "Tell me, what comes to the child from the father and what from the mother?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) lost consciousness for a long time, then came out of that state with a flushed face and pouring sweat, and said: "Flesh, blood, nails and hair are from the woman, and bones, veins and sinews are from the man." Ibn Suriya said: "You speak truly. Your matter is the matter of a prophet." At that very moment he accepted Islam and said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), which angel descends upon you?" He said: "Jibra'il." He said: "Describe him." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) proceeded to describe Jibra'il. Then Ibn Suriya said: "I bear witness that the attributes of Jibra'il in the Torah are also as you have described. You are truly the true Messenger of Allah." When Ibn Suriya accepted Islam, the Jewish people insulted him and reviled him. When they wanted to rise, the tribe of Banu Qurayza joined Banu al-Nadir. They said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Banu al-Nadir are our brothers; our father, prophet and religion are one. Whenever Banu al-Nadir kill one of us and are unable to pay ransom, they pay seventy camel-loads of dates in place of blood-money; and whenever one of Banu al-Nadir is killed at the hands of our people, they kill the killer and take from us double that, namely one hundred and forty camel-loads of dates. And if the slain is a woman, in exchange for her one of our men is killed, and if one of their men is killed, two of our men are killed in exchange; and one of our noble free men is killed in exchange for the killing of a slave of Banu al-Nadir. Meanwhile they reckon the blood-money of our wounded as half the blood-money of the wounded of Banu al-Nadir. So judge between us and Banu al-Nadir." It was right there that Allah revealed these verses concerning stoning and retaliation.