A Critical Review of Famous Occasion of Revelation of Verse Mᾱ'dah(5):41

Verse 41 of Surah Mᾱ'idah (5), which was revealed with the purpose of comforting the Prophet (PBUH), depicts the devious actions of a number of hypocrites and Jews who were motivated by others to come to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) for the purpose of spying him. The presumption of these people was that if the Prophet (PBUH) ruled in their favor, they would accept, otherwise they would turn away: "They pervert words from their meanings, [and] say, ‘If you are given this, take it, but if you are not given this, beware!". The ambiguity about the reference of "this (هذا)" in this verse has prompted the commentators to find an example for it in the form of "the cause of revelation". Among them, the most important and famous narrative that has been discussed about the occasion of revelation is the issue of stoning two Jews for committing adultery (of a married woman). The questions of the research are as follows: "To what extent does the famous occasion of revelation of this verse have reliable evidence?" and "Is it possible to base an interpretive thought on this occasion?" Considering the importance of the issue of stoning and its jurisprudential consequences, this research analyzes and examines this exegetical hadith in Shiite and Sunni narrative and interpretive sources and presents its challenges, through the library method. Findings show that the partiality of some commentators has prevented them from other interpretative structures that are aligned and completely related to the content of the verse. In other words, this narration cannot be the definitive reason for descending the verse due to anxiety in the text, disagreement with other narrations, conflict with the Qur'an, conflict with real history, and lack of complete harmony with the context. On the other hand, the narration that considers the cause of the revelation of the verse to be a matter of retribution and ransom is preferred because it is concluded as the realer occasion of the revelation.