CHAPTER IV

THE VERSE OF STONING IN THE TAURAT

IT is clear from the previous chapter that the Verse of Stoning was in the Qur'an whence it was dropped, and that the Qur'an witnessed to it as existing in the Taurat in its day, and it has never been omitted from the Bible since then. For, notwithstanding all the accusations of the Muhammadans, the verse still exists in the Bible! It has been in it ever since Moses recorded it. It occurs in Deut. xxii. 22-4.

If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then shall they both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and the man find her in the city and lie with her;
Then shall ye bring them both out unto the gate of the city and shall stone them with stones that they die.

This is the Verse of Stoning, nay the Verses of Stoning, which Muhammadans accuse Christians of having omitted! But the verses have remained sound and perfect, and will for ever remain so,

IN THE TAURAT 31

even if the heavens and the earth perish.1 But what makes the story stranger still is the fact that Muhammadans accuse us of the very same thing of which they themselves are guilty. We have therefore met them on their own ground, and we may fairly ask the just and the thoughtful Muhammadan to ponder over this strange story, and to act in accordance with the clear lesson it teaches.

1 In the Injil (St. John viii. 1-11) we find the proof that these verses were in the Taurat in the time of al-Masih. The same passage also shows the lines along which Christians, following their founder, deal with sinners of this class.

THE END