Abrogation (Arabic نسخ [naskh])  and the Quran

Below are several translations from Quran 2:106 and its teaching about abrogation (naskh),

• None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things? (Yusuf Ali)
• Nothing of our revelation (even a single verse) do we abrogate or cause be forgotten, but we bring (in place) one better or the like thereof. Knowest thou not that Allah is Able to do all things? (Pickthal)
• Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things? (Shakir)
• We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah is over all things competent? (Sahih International)
• Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all things? (Muhsin Khan)
• In no way do We abrogate any ayah (i.e. verse, sign) whatsoever or cause it to be forgotten (except that) We come up with (i.e., bring) a more charitable one or the like of it. Do you not know that Allah is Ever-Determiner over everything? (Dr. Ghali)

  

The British scholar John Burton writes that abrogation (naskh) is

A prominent concept in the fields of quranic commentary and Islamic law which allowed the harmonization of apparent contradictions in legal rulings. Despite the voluminous literature Muslims have produced on this topic over the centuries, Western scholars have historically evinced little interest in analyzing the details of “abrogation” (“Abrogation”, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾan).

Who better to learn more about the details of abrogation (naskh) than from Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt?

Listen to the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa teach about abrogation:

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“One of our main principles is that this Quran which is the book of the Lord of the worlds to all the worlds until the Day of Judgment is a book of guidance and it calls for an open order and it is preserved by Allah.  “Surely We, Ever We, have been sending down the Remembrance, and surely We are indeed Preservers of it” and it is valid for all times and places and for all people and that Islam is an universal religion that calls all people to a level word.  “Say, ‘O people of the Book come to a level word between us and you…””

“So these are our principles and beliefs and we are required to use the Quran and seek guidance from it knowing that it is “a guidance to the pious” as Allah (SWT) ¹Abbreviation for the Arabic phrase, Subhanahu wa ta’ala.  This expression is used after using the name Allah.  The English translation means “highly praised and glorified is He.” described it in the beginning of Surat Al-Baqara.  “That is the Book, there is no suspicious about it, a guidance to the pious.””

“Allah (SWT) made this book the final one.  Therefore, if there is an Old and New Testament, then there is a last testimony which is the final word from Allah (SWT) to the people.”

The Miracle of the Quran and the Miracles of Muhammad

“These properties are universal and are the properties of preservation that made the Quran a miracle.  Each prophet came to his people with miracles which made people believe and so our master Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) told us that “God has not sent a single prophet to mankind without a miracle to lead people to faith, my miracle was the Divine revelation, the Qur’an.”  When the Prophet (SAWS) said this he did not deny himself a miracle, because he had so many miracles, which the scholars had counted to be more than a thousand miracles.  They even said that each miracle of a prophet previous to Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was also done by him.”

“All these miracles were for his people (SAWS)…that is why he asked them how could they disbelieve while he was still among them.  Indeed, for they saw a great deal of miracles such as increasing food, praise of pebbles, longing of the trunk, complaint of animals, walking of plants to him (SAWS) informing them with the unseen, Al-israa and Al-mi’raj and a lot of other things like restoring Qutada’s eye and healing the sick and reviving the dead. ²The American Sunni Muslim Muhammad Hisham Kabbani writes of Muhammad’s miracles:

He was a healer for himself and for others, primarily by reciting the Quran for whoever was ill.  He warned people to avoid overeating.  He performed countless miracles.  He prayed that Ali not feel the hot and cold weather, and thereafter, he never felt them.  He prayed for Ibn Abbas to be a genius in religion, jurisprudence, and explanation of the Quran, which came to pass.  When Qutada’s eye fell out of its socket, he restored it, and Qutada was able to see with it better than he ever had before.  He rubbed the foot of Ibn Abi Atiq when it was broken and it was healed immediately.

The moon split on his order as a sign to the unbelievers.  Water sprang forth from his fingers from which a whole army drank and made ablution.  Water poured forth from a small cup of water, converting the desert into an oasis.  The branch of a tree under which he sat, bowed in a gesture of love as he stood up to leave.  The minbar, from which he preached, used to give a moaning sound, as if crying for him.  The stones in his hand praised God, so that everyone heard them.

The animals complained to him.  The deer and the wolf witnessed his prophethood.  He predicted that his daughter Fatimah would be the first to follow him in death.  He foretold that Uthman Dhun Nurayn, his third rightly-guided caliph and son-in-law, would be assassinated.  He announced the murder of al-Aswad ibn Anas on the night of his death in Sana, in far-off Yemen.  He mentioned the death of the king of Persia to his Compansions at the exact moment it occurred.  He ate meat full of poison, but nothing happened to him, althought the one who ate with him died immediately.  Countless other miracles could be mentioned (Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition, pp.93f.).

“They were endless miracles, anyway these miracles happened in front of his people and therefore he was able to bring out his companions from the darkness into the light and from the jahiliya (the pre-Islamic period)³Jahiliyya, commonly translated “Age of Ignorance” is “used by Muslims to refer to the historical period in west-central Arabia covering the centuries immediately prior to the mission of Muhammad, a period characterized by ignorance of the divine truth. To the original audience of the Qur’an, however, it almost certainly referred primarily to the moral condition of those individuals and their society which led them to oppose the mission of [Muhammad] and only secondarily, if at all, to a defined historical epoch. As to the nature of this moral condition, I. Goldziher and T Izutsu have argued that the primary meaning of the root, j-h-l, from which jahiliyya is derived, is not “ignorance” but “barbarism,” especially the tendency to go to extremes of behavior. According to this view the original antonym was not ‘ilm (knowledge) but hilm (moral reasonableness, self-control).”
Citation: Shepard, William E., “Age of Ignorance”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 02 November 2018 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00013> era into the Islamic era so they got out to spread the light in the whole world until the Day of Judgment.  We are still talking about the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and learn a lot of lessons from their lives.”

“Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet and his final prophecy united the nation this religion drew attention to unity.  One God, one Prophet, one month to fast.  One qiblah to face, one season for hajj and hajj is Arafah which is a single day to stand for the Lord of the worlds remembering and supplicating to Him (SWT).”

“Therefore, the full definition of unity is not just the belief in the Oneness of Allah but also believing in one prophet because he is the final prophet and the final messenger.  Therefore, it was necessary that there would be people who take his place.  The prophet (SAWS) said: “report from me even if just one verse.””

Ali Gomaa says the Quran had to be preserved because Muhammad was the final prophet and there is none after him to correct any errors.

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“Also Quran had to be preserved because if it was altered, who would then come after that?  And if we presumed that other prophets had come after Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), the nation would have been dispersed each prophet had a group who believed in him and another who did not this is the way of humans and the command of Allah (SWT) in history but when Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was one, the nation became one.  Therefore, there was no disbelief nor division for people of the qiblah because of the finality of this prophecy and message.  Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) ended the message.  So the Holy Quran became the sole source of guidance until the Day of Judgment.”

After discussing the preservation of the Quran and finality of Prophet Muhammad, Sheikh Ali Gomaa moves to the issue of abrogation (naskh).

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The meaning of abrogation (naskh)

“Hence, we come to the subject of our principle.  Which is our stand from the idea of abrogation [naskh].  There is a map left by the righteous forefathers for the issue of abrogation [naskh].  First in editing its meaning.  Abrogation [naskh] may mean elimination and may mean specialization.  Thus, the forefathers original books used to call specialization abrogation [naskh] and after that, concepts separated by offending these expressions.  So abrogation [naskh] started to mean a certain concept and specialization started to mean another one.”

Different types of abrogation [naskh]

“Abrogation [naskh] left by scholars is an abrogation [naskh] that could happen in the Quran either in its rules or in its recitation. ⁴For example, “Many verses counsel patience in the face of the mockery of the unbelievers, while other verses incite to warfare against the unbelievers. The former are linked to the Meccan phase of the mission when the Muslims were too few and weak to do other than endure insult; the latter are linked to Medina where the Prophet had acquired the numbers and the strength to hit back at his enemies. The discrepancy between the two sets of verses indicates that different situations call for different regulations. This is an instance of naskh in the Kuran.  Chronology is the key to the resolution of the difference, since a divine book cannot contain contradictions, IV, 82” (John Burton, “Naskh”, Encyclopaedia of Islam).  Abrogation [naskh] could also happen in sunnah (the Prophet’s tradition) either in its rules or its text.  Abrogation [naskh] could happen between Quran and sunnah (the Prophet’s tradition).  On this map, we can find that Quran abrogated some of the sunnah and sunnah abrogated some of the Quran.

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“So if we want to talk about abrogation [naskh] we have to talk about these types that were dealt with by the righteous forefathers.”

Abrogation [naskh] of sunnah by sunnah

“As for abrogation [naskh] of sunnah by sunnah.  This abrogation [naskh] can be provided as the Prophet (SAWS) said: “I forbad you to visit graves, now you may visit them, Abrogation [naskh] here is clear because first he forbade them, then he allowed them “for in visiting them there is admonition.”  “I had prohibited you from saving the meat of the sacrifice” For the guests that were turned down.  He forbade them from saving meat so they would honor guests.  “So now, you can eat and save“.  Forbidding happened here, then allowance followed so abrogation [naskh] occurred.”  A follower for such things will find it anyhow limited in the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS).” ⁵Another example of this kind of abrogation: “‘Abd Allah b. Mas’ud reports that before he emigrated to Abyssinia, he used to greet the Prophet on passing him at prayer and the Prophet would return his greeting. On his return, ‘Abd Allah did this, but the Prophet ignored him, and ‘Abd Allah was perplexed. Completing his prayer, the Prophet explained, “God introduces such regulations as He pleases, and He has decreed that when we pray there must be no talking.” In this instance of naskh in the Hadith, a later regulation has replaced an earlier practice” (John Burton, “Naskh”, Encyclopaedia of Islam).

Abrogation [naskh] and scholars’ judgment of conflicting hadiths

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“The second type is scholar judgment when the content of hadiths conflict.  So they decided that one of them as abrogating and the other as abrogated.  So when he (SAWS) forbids praying after the asr (afternoon) prayer until sunset.  “O sons of Abd Manaf, do not prevent people from circling around the Ka’aba anytime during the day or night from praying to Allah“.  Some claimed that this hadith abrogated the first and some said no, he is specifying it by the location of the sanctified house of Allah (Ka’aba) and some combine them by time or place so he favor this one or that one.”

“Anyhow in this case there is no text on that there is abrogation [naskh] like the first type.  But here in the second type scholars are the ones who decided.  So some said that there is abrogating or abrogated and some refused it.  If we followed what has been written about Hadith, abrogating and abrogated, we will find for example in Al-Hazemi consideration and we will find that these ahadith are limited anyhow those that were described as abrogating or abrogated.”

“Some contemporary scholars said that abrogated ahadith are not more than 10 or 11 ahadith and that abrogation [naskh] in the hadith is limited.”

Abrogation [naskh] in the Quran

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“If we move to Quran, we will find that scholars talk about ayahs that had their reading and ruling abrogated and there are ayahs that had their recitation abrogated but not their ruling and there are ayahs that had their ruling abrogated but not their recitation and there are ayahs that had neither their recitation nor their ruling abrogated.”

“The truth is that abrogation [naskh] of recitation is a matter of consideration.  Scholars depended on it in some narrations in authentic books e.g. Sahih Al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim or other reliable books.  But some investigators, and one of them is Sheikh Abdullah Allah ibn Siddiq al-Ghumari refused this idea that there is recitation abrogation [naskh] becaue it is a preserved book and because it is a book beyond time and place and because its preservation is from Allah, not from human.”

“Therefore there is a question mark on recitation abrogation [naskh].  He wrote a little book full of evidence that proves the weakness of the opinion of recitation abrogation [naskh].  He called it, “Thawq Al-Halawa fi Imtena’ Naskh Al-Telawa” [Abrogation According to Scholars of Juristic Methodology].”

“Some scholars here and there throughout history used this juristic school of thought.  Among them is Abu-Muslim Al-Asbahani as copied by Imam Ar-Razi in his interpretation (exegesis).  Abu-Muslim Al-Asbahani has an interpretation in which he denied abrogation [naskh].  He explained Allah’s saying that can be translated as, “Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten We bring one better than it or like it.  Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?”  (Quran 2:106).  He referred it to abrogation [naskh] between different laws.”

“When Musa (AS) (Moses) came with Torah, Isa (AS) (Jesus) came after him and said: “and to make lawful some of that which was prohibited to you.” So some fixed rules of Musa (AS) were abrogated.  Then came Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and he abrogated too what Musa (AS) and Isa (AS) stated in his final honorable law.  So, “Whatever communications We abrogate” (Quran 2:106).  This is carried by Abu-Muslim and a team referred to by Ar-Razi as “some people”  and he did not mention who they were.  This team refuses recitation abrogation [naskh] and also refuses abrogation [naskh] of rules.”

“When investigated, as Dr. Mustafa Zaid did, we will find that the ayahs said to be abrogated are few and do not exceed six ayahs and that all ayahs that were said to be abrogated forever scholars said that they are not.  Even those six ayahs are under disptue too and a lot of scholars stated that they are not abrogated.”

“Abdul-Mutaal Al-Jabri says in such a follow up that is no ayah said to be abrogated unless said it is not.  “Al-Nasekh wal mansukh” by As-Syouti or Ibn-Salam confirms this.”

“There is no one ayah in the Quran that is universally agreed upon its abrogation [naskh].  There are merely ideas and opinions; they are not unanimous or definite.  So if one imagined every ayay not to be abrogated, then he would not be diverged from any consensus in this matter.”

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“After that, scholars found in this a denial of recitation abrogation [naskh] and criticisms of narrations said about it.  Abdullah Ibn Siddiq al-Ghumari states this criticism in “Thawq al-halawa” and he explained that each narration in its support there is a saying requires not to be definite about this important matter which we do not need.”

“The Quran has 6236 ayahs by Hafs narration and 6000 ayahs by Hamza Az-Zayyats narration, all are clear and all were not subject to any change or suspicion because “there is no suspicion about it” all are guidance and have their rules.”

Ahmadiyya Islam

Ali Gomaa argued for the preservation of the Quran by appealing to Muhammad being the final prophet.  Ali Gomaa asked, “Also Quran had to be preserved because if it was altered, who would then come after that?”  Interestingly, the Ahmadiyya Muslims say that Mirza Ghulam Ahmed came after Muhammad.

Christianity and Abrogation [naskh]

Ali Gomaa mentioned Jesus’ abrogation of certain laws given by Moses.  Just as abrogation has a nuanced meaning in Arabic, the same is true for Jesus’ abrogation of certain Mosaic Laws which can also be understood as “fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

Jesus did teach that certain Mosaic Laws pertaining to food and the temple were abrogated/fulfilled so that it was no longer necessary for Jesus’ followers to keep them.  The proof that Jesus gave of His authority to abrogate/fulfill these Mosaic Laws was His death on the cross, the tearing of the veil in the Temple (Matthew 27:51), His resurrection, and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD (Matthew 24:1-2,34).

This is one of the major differences between Christianity and Islam.  Muhammad did not have authority to reinstitute food laws.  Muhammad did not give conclusive signs of his authority like Jesus’ signs in His death, resurrection, and the Temple’s destruction in AD 70.

Islam has effectively abrogated the Christian and Hebrew Scriptures by claiming they have been corrupted.  What other prophet of God came along and effectively “abrogated” previous revelation and replaced it with his own?

Ali Gomaa said, “When a person has a stable clear belief supported by proof and evidence, he shall be self assured with a confident heart and a clear path ahead of him.” I invite you to consider the proof and evidence as to why the Bible has not been abrogated by the Quran.

What every Muslim should know about the Bible

 

References

John Burton, “Abrogation”, Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾan.  General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe.  Brill [Leiden and Boston], 2005. CD-ROM version

Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition, pp.93,94.

Naskh, Wikipedia.