Contradictions: Stoning

Although we know that stoning to death (for any crime) is not Quranic, the punishment is still upheld and supported among Sunnis. It is interesting that a group who constantly claims to be following the Quran would reject its directives so easily and frequently, but again, it reveals who they consider to be their REAL god.

In hadeeth literature, there are a few mentions of rajm (stoning), including:

008.082.825: The jews came to Allah's Apostle and mentioned to him that a man and a lady among them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah regarding the Rajam?" They replied, "We only disgrace and flog them with stripes." 'Abdullah bin Salam said to them, 'You have told a lie the penalty of Rajam is in the Torah.' They brought the Torah and opened it. One of them put his hand over the verse of the Rajam and read what was before and after it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift up your hand." Where he lifted it there appeared the verse of the Rajam. So they said, "O Muhammad! He has said the truth, the verse of the Rajam is in it (Torah)." Then Allah's Apostle ordered that the two persons (guilty of illegal sexual intercourse) be stoned to death, and so they were stoned, and I saw the man bending over the woman so as to protect her from the stones.

Muhammad allegedly catches the Jews in a cover-up with their own book and forces them to comply with the Torah law. In a mirrored example, if Sunnis were asked to show the verse of "rajm" in their own Quran, they would be unable to do so. Are they ashamed to practice a Jewish law?

008.082.817: ... ['Umar says] "Now then, I am going to tell you something which (Allah) has written for me to say. I do not know; perhaps it portends my death, so whoever understands and remembers it, must narrate it to the others wherever his mount takes him, but if somebody is afraid that he does not understand it, then it is unlawful for him to tell lies about me. Allah sent Muhammad with the Truth and revealed the Holy Book to him, and among what Allah revealed, was the Verse of the Rajam (the stoning of married person (male & female) who commits illegal sexual intercourse, and we did recite this Verse and understood and memorized it. Allah's Apostle did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him.

I am afraid that after a long time has passed, somebody will say, 'By Allah, we do not find the Verse of the Rajam in Allah's Book,' and thus they will go astray by leaving an obligation which Allah has revealed. And the punishment of the Rajam is to be inflicted to any married person (male & female), who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if the required evidence is available or there is conception or confession. ..."

In this astounding hadeeth we can see several things:

• God has told 'Umar to say these things (according to him);
• the verse of stoning was in the 'original' Quran;
• Muhammad carried out stoning;
• 'Umar fears that people of the future will read the Quran and find that stoning is not there and will 'go astray'

Several questions come to mind:

• If God told 'Umar (or Muhammad) something important regarding the Quran, why would God leave it out of the final book?
• What happened to the verse on stoning that it is no longer found in the final book?
• If future people might be confused by not finding the verse of stoning in the Quran, why didn't 'Umar (or anyone) simply write it there?
• Why would any later generations of Muslims accept the Quran, after knowing that the 'original' Quran had lost some verses along the way?

For a believing person these questions are easily answered: the hadeeth is false and the allegations against God or the prophet are baseless.

The hadeeths offer answers of their own:

• Ibn 'Abbas, 'Umar and Sufyan knew that invoking the name of Muhammad over their sayings would give them authority. (link)
• A goat ate the paper on which the verse was written. (link)
• 'Umar didn't want people to say he was tampering with the Quran. (link)
• The concept of "abrogation" allows all sorts of unQuranic ideas to seep into Islam and invoking Muhammad's name over the addition gives authority to it. (more later)

Who is more evil than one who fabricates lies and attributes them to God, or denies the truth when it comes to him? Is there not a place in Hell for the rejecters? (Quran, 29:68)

And who is more wicked than one who invents lies about God, or says: "It has been inspired to me," when We did not inspire anything to him; or who says: "I will bring down the same as what God has sent down." And if you could only see the wicked at the moments of death when the Angels have their arms opened: "Bring yourselves out, today you will be given the severest punishment for what you used to say about God without truth, and you used to be arrogant towards His revelations." (Quran, 6:93)

Further reading:
Stoning is Shirk
Muslims Against Stoning
Wikipedia: Rajm
Rajm: Stoning to Death
Opposing Rajm