Does the Prophet’s — may God’s prayers and peace be upon him — act of placing a copy of the Torah on a pillow out of respect for it mean that this copy was not distorted, or was it because it contained the word of God despite the distortion?

Allah Almighty has informed us that the People of the Book distorted the Torah and the Gospel, both in wording and meaning. However, the distortion is not comprehensive to everything contained in their books. There is nothing to prevent the assertion that authentic copies of their books remained until the era of the Prophet, peace be upon him, as Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that there are authentic copies and many distorted copies on earth.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, judged between two Jews who had committed adultery. He asked them for the Torah, and when they brought it, he placed it on a pillow and said: "I believe in you and in Him who revealed you." When they read the Torah, one of the young men placed his hand over the verse of stoning to conceal it. Abdullah ibn Salam ordered him to lift his hand, and behold, the verse of stoning was beneath it. Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, ordered that they be stoned.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, placed the Torah on the pillow out of reverence for it, due to the truth it contained. Some scholars have used this as evidence that this particular copy was not affected by distortion, or that his reverence was for the truth within it.

It is definitively certain that the portion they read in the presence of the Prophet, peace be upon him, including the verse of stoning, was from the revealed Torah that had not been distorted.