Regarding the Jews, what we will say is this: Allah, the Exalted, sent the Torah to them through Musa, son of ʿImrān. Allah, the Exalted, said about this:
"Then We gave Musa the Scripture, perfecting [Our favor] upon the one who did good and as a detailed explanation of all things and as guidance and mercy..." (al-Anʿām 6:154)
"Say, 'Who revealed the Book that Musa brought as a light and guidance to the people? You make it into pages, disclosing [some of] it and concealing much.'" (al-Anʿām 6:91)
"And We had certainly given Musa and Harun the criterion and a light and a reminder for the muttaqūn (those who have taqwa)." (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:48)
"And We gave them both the explicit Book. And We guided them both to the straight path." (al-Ṣāffāt 37:117-118)
"Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah, and they were witnesses thereto. So do not fear the people but fear Me, and do not exchange My verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers (kāfirūn)." (al-Māʾida 5:44)
The Jews, for a time, adhered to the Torah and judged by it. Then they began to distort, alter, and interpret it, and to introduce rulings not found within it. Indeed, regarding this, Allah the Exalted has said:
"And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, 'This is from Allah,' but it is not from Allah. And they speak untruth about Allah while they know." (Āl ʿImrān 3:78)
Allah, the Exalted, informs that the Jews interpreted and explained the Torah according to their own desires. There is no disagreement among the scholars on this matter. They would interpret the meanings of the verses of the Torah, taking them away from their intended purpose, according to their own whims. For example, they changed the ruling of stoning (rajm) to beating with sticks. Additionally, they implemented the practice of painting the face of the adulterer. Yet, the word 'rajm' still remained in the Torah. Furthermore, when a noble person among them committed theft, they would not punish him, but when a weak person did so, they would apply the legal penalty (ḥadd) to him. However, they were commanded to apply the ḥadd and the punishment of cutting the hand to both the noble and the weak. As for the alteration of the words of the Torah's verses, some have said that all the verses were changed, while others have said they were not, and have cited the following verses as evidence: "But how do they come to you for judgment while they have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah?" (al-Māʾida 5:43) "My mercy encompasses all things. So I will decree it for those who have taqwa, give zakat, and those who believe in Our verses - those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel..." (al-Aʿrāf 7:156-157)
"Say, 'Bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful.'" (Āl ʿImrān 3:93)
Those scholars who say that not all the verses of the Torah were changed also cite the story of rajm as evidence. That is: In the authentic collections of Bukhārī and Muslim, it is narrated from Ibn ʿUmar that when the Jews came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to judge between a man and a woman who had committed adultery, he asked them:
- What ruling do you find in the Torah regarding rajm? They replied:
- We disgrace the adulterers and beat them with sticks. Upon this, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered them to bring the Torah. They brought it and began to read. They concealed the verse of rajm. The reader, ʿAbdullah b. Sūriyā, placed his finger over the verse of rajm and concealed it. He read what was before and after it. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Lift your finger, O blind one!" When he lifted his finger, the verse of rajm was found there. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) then ordered that the Jewish man and woman who had committed adultery be stoned, and said: "O Allah, I am the first to revive Your command after they had killed it."
According to a narration from Abū Dāwūd, when the Jews brought the Torah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took the cushion from beneath him and placed it under the Torah, saying: "I have iman (faith) in you and in the One who revealed you." According to some reports, when they brought the Torah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up for it. However, I have not seen the chain of transmission for this; Allah knows best the truth.
All that we have narrated here poses a difficulty for the statements of many theologians and others who claim that the transmission of the Torah by tawātur (mass transmission) ceased in the time of Bukhtun-Nasr (Nebuchadnezzar), and that no one except ʿUzayr preserved it. If ʿUzayr was a prophet, then he was infallible. For us, it is sufficient that the Torah reached an infallible person by tawātur. If it is said that the Torah did not reach ʿUzayr by tawātur, then we say that all the prophets who came after ʿUzayr, such as Zakariyyā, Yaḥyā, and ʿĪsā, adhered to the Torah and acted according to its rulings. If the Torah were not a sound book and a collection of divine rulings to be acted upon, these infallible prophets would not have relied on it. Then Allah, the Exalted, in the verses He revealed to the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and to other prophets, reproached the Jews for their evil intentions.
This is because the Jews, although they believed in the authority of the Torah, turned away from its rulings, which they were commanded to uphold, and instead sought the judgment of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) in a case of adultery, even as they opposed the religion he brought. They pretended that by inventing practices such as beating with sticks and painting the face, they were following Allah's command. When the Jews sought the judgment of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), they said among themselves: "If Muhammad rules for beating and painting the face of the adulterer, accept his judgment. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you can say before Allah that a Prophet judged for you in this way. But if he rules for rajm, do not accept his judgment." Allah, the Exalted, reproached the Jews for these evil intentions.
Because the Jews, instead of following the true religion, followed their desires and evil aims, they sought the judgment of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). On this matter, Allah the Exalted said:
"But how do they come to you for judgment while they have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah? Then they turn away, [even] after that; but those are not [in fact] believers.
Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah..." (al-Māʾida 5:43-44)
For this reason, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled that the Jewish man and woman who had committed adultery should be stoned, and said: "O Allah, I am the first to revive Your command after they had killed it." After saying this, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) asked the Jews what had led them to such distortion and erroneous rulings, and why they did not implement the command of Allah that was in their hands. They replied: "Adultery became widespread among our noblemen. We could not apply the ḥadd to them. We used to stone our weak ones who committed adultery. Eventually, we said: Let us find a middle course, so that we can apply the same ruling to both the noble and the weak. Thus, we decided on beating and painting the faces of the adulterers." This is an example of their distortion and alteration of the Torah and their false interpretation of it.
They carried out these distortions and interpretations—while the word 'rajm' remained preserved in their book—by changing the meaning of the word. As indicated by the aforementioned and unanimously accepted hadith, some have said: "The Jews only changed the meanings of the words in the Torah, while the words themselves remained preserved," and have cited this as evidence. For if they had implemented all the rulings in their books, this would have led them to follow the truth and to follow the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). As Allah the Exalted said: "My mercy encompasses all things. So I will decree it for those who have taqwa, give zakat, and those who believe in Our verses—those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel..."
That Prophet commands them to what is right and forbids them from what is wrong, makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil, and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them." (al-Aʿrāf 7:157)
"If only they had upheld the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from beneath their feet. Among them are a moderate community, but many of them—evil is that which they do." (al-Māʾida 5:66)
"O People of the Book! You have no [valid] basis until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord." (al-Māʾida 5:68) This is the view of the scholars who say that the changes in the Torah were in meaning, not in wording.
Bukhārī, at the end of his Ṣaḥīḥ, narrated this from Ibn ʿAbbās, and he himself discussed and accepted it, not rejecting it. The great scholar Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī also transmitted this from many theologians in his tafsir.