Life-of-Muhammad

238Life of Muhammad sarighteouness. Those, however, who proclaim their sinsand take pride in them lose all sense of good and eviland become incapable of repentance.On one occasion a man came to the Holy Prophet saand said: "I have been guilty of adultery" (this whenestablished by proper evidence being a punishableoffence under Islamic Law). Hearing the man'sconfession, the Holy Prophet sa turned away from himand became occupied with something else. He meant toindicate that the proper remedy in such a case wasrepentance and not public confession. But the man didnot realize this and imagining that the Prophet sa had notheard him, went and stood in front of him and,addressing him, repeated his confession. The HolyProphet sa again turned away from him but the managain went and stood in front of him and repeated hisconfession. When he had done this four times theProphet sa said "I had wished that this man should nothave proclaimed his sin till God should have indicatedHis will with regard to him but, as he has repeated hisconfession four times, I am compelled to take action"(Tirmidhi). 'He then added: "This man has himselfconfessed and has not been charged by the womanconcerning whom he makes the confession. The womanshould be questioned and, if she denies her guilt, sheshould not be molested and only this man should bepunished in accordance with his confession but, if sheconfesses she should also be punished." It was thepractice of the Holy Prophet sa to follow the Law of theTorah in matters regarding which the Qur’an was silent,and as the Torah prescribes that an adulterer should bestoned to death he pronounced the sentence upon thisman accordingly. When the sentence was being carriedout the man tried to run away but the people pursuedhim and carried out the sentence. When the Prophet sacame to know of this he disapproved of it. He said thatthe man had been sentenced in accordance with his ownconfession. His attempt to run away was in effect aretraction of his confession and thereafter he should not