"No such law hath been revealed in the Pentateuch."
&Muhammad answered and said: "Whom
do ye regard among your rabbis as being a recognized
authority and having a sure knowledge of
the truth?" They agreed upon Ibn-i-Suriya. Thereupon
&Muhammad summoned him and said: "I
adjure thee by God Who clove the sea for you,
caused manna to descend upon you, and the cloud
to overshadow you, Who delivered you from Pharaoh
and his people, and exalted you above all human
beings, to tell us what Moses hath decreed
concerning adultery between a married man and a
married woman." He made reply: "O Muhammad!
death by stoning is the law." Muhammad observed:
"Why is it then that this law is annulled
and hath ceased to operate among the Jews?" He
answered and said: "When Nebuchadnezzar delivered
Jerusalem to the flames, and put the Jews
to death, only a few survived. The divines of that
age, considering the extremely limited number of
the Jews, and the multitude of the Amalekites,
took counsel together, and came to the conclusion
that were they to enforce the law of the Pentateuch,
every survivor who hath been delivered from the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar would have to be put to
death according to the verdict of the Book. Owing
