KHUTAB IV: 1. . NASKH (ABROGATION) IN THE QUR’ĀN

1.  . NASKH (ABROGATION) IN THE QUR’ĀN      

In order to further understand the meanings of the verses of the Qur’ān we have to learn its sciences. Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūt.ī (d. 991/1583) mentions eighty sciences in his book al-Itqān, and put the science of nāsikh and mansūkh (abrogating and abrogated verses) as number 47.

The term naskh has many meanings, among which, as mentioned by al-Rāghib al-As.fahānī (d. 502/1109) in his book al-Mufradāt, as followers:

a.     It meansإِزَالَةُ شَيْئٍ بِشَيْئٍ يَتَعَقَّبُهُ  )removing or abrogating something with something else which follows it, namely, replacing it(, such as sunshine with shade, shade with sunshine, and old age with youth.

b.    Sometimes it means اْلإزَالَة  (removal, abrogation, cancellation)

c.     Sometimes it means الإثْبَات  (confirmation, recording, listing)

d.    Sometimes it means both: removal and confirmation

The expression نَسْخُ الْكِتَابِ means (1) the abrogation of a law with another which follows it (2) the making a copy of it

          Al-Rāghib al-As.fahānī gives the interpretation of the term naskh in the following Qur’ānic verse:

مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ آَيَةٍ أَوْ نُنْسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنْهَا أَوْ مِثْلِهَا... (البقرة : ١٠٦)

Whatever a Verse do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten,

We bring a better one or similar to it… (Q. 2:106)

It is said that the term مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ آَيَةٍ أَوْ نُنْسِهَا  means: “We do not remove the application of it or drop it from the heart of people”. However, مَا نَنْسَخْ مِنْ آَيَةٍ could also mean “We do not make and reveal it”, and  أَوْ نُنْسِهَا means “or delay it so that We do not reveal it”.

          Muslim scholars of earlier generation (الْمُتَقَدِّمِيْنَ, i.e., the s.ah.ābah and the tābi‘īn) have different definition of naskh from that of the later generation.

          The definition of naskh  according to الْمُتَقَدِّمِيْنَ is as follows:

It is the replacement of some qualities of a verse with another, either as an explanation of a verse among the verses of the Qur’ān, or turning away from its obvious meaning to non-obvious one, or explaining that the qayd (restriction, condition) is based on agreement, and not on reservation or specification of the general term, or explaining the difference between what is mans.ūs. (fixed in the divine text) and what is apparently similar to it, or removing one of the pre-Islamic traditions, or removing one of the prescriptions of religious laws of earlier religions.

Here we see that the term naskh (abrogation) deals with explaining, specifying general terms (تَخْصِيْصُ الْعاَم) in the verses of the Qur’ān, restricting the unrestricted (تَقْيِيْدُ الْمُطْلَق) , explaining the obscure (بَيَانُ الْمُبْهَم) , elaborating the general concepts (تَفْصِيْلُ الْمُجْمَل) and abrogating pre-Islamic traditions and pre-Islamic religious prescriptions.

          What scholars of later generations (مُتًَأَخِّرِيْن) consider as the specification of a legal judgment pertinent to a certain period, and the specification by lifting the legal judgment pertinent to particular people are all considered naskh (abrogation) by scholars of early generations.

          The definition of naskh (abrogation) according to the scholars of later generations is as follows:

It is the abolition of a fixed legal judgment in an earlier message with another unknown of it, or the abolition of a legal judgment with a new message, or the abolition of a legal judgment with legal evidence that comes later.

In other words it is the abrogation of a legal judgment in the divine text with another. The abrogation takes place only on the legal judgment that has been decided earlier. There has to be momentary loss of conviction and certainty for the occurrence of abrogation according to this view.  

This definition of naskh by Muslim scholars of later generations with its strict conditions, although it is rationally possible to occur, it could hardly occur in the Qur’ān. No wonder that many contemporary Muslim scholars deny the occurrence of abrogation in the Qur’ān, such as Shaykh Muhammad Abū Zahrah in his Mas.ādir al-Fiqh al-Islāmī and Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazālī in his Naz.arāt fī ’l-Qur’ān. In 1368/1948 ‘Abd al-Muta‘āl al-Jabarī wrote his Master thesis at the Faculty of Dār al-‘Ulūm, Cairo University entitled النَّسْخُ فِي الشَّرِيْعَةِ الإسْلَامِيَّةِ كَمَا أَفْهَمُهُ (“Abrogation in the Islamic Law as I Understand It”), and as its sub-title he put لَا مَنْسُوْخَ فِي اْلقُرآن  (“There is no Abrogated Verse in the Qur‘ān”), and لَا نَسْخَ فِي السُّنَّةِ الْمُنَزَّلَة (“There is no Abrogation in the Revealed Sunnah”). As a comple-ment of this thesis he wrote a book entitled لَا نَسْخَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ ... لِمَاذَا ؟  “There is no Abrogation in the Qur ‘ān … Why?”); it was first published in 1400/ 1980).

The existence of the term naskh in the Qur’ān is undeniable. It is mentioned in it several times, either the word itself as mentioned earlier, or its meaning, such as the following verses:

 وَإِذَا بَدَّلْنَا آَيَةً مَكَانَ آَيَةٍ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يُنَزِّلُ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مُفْتَر

ٍ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ (النحل : ١٠١)

 And when We change a Verse (of the Qur’ān) in place

 of another—and Allah knows best what He sent down—they

 (the disbelievers) say: “You (O Muhammad) are but  a forger

 (a liar).” Nay, but most of them know not (Q. 16:101)

The clear indication of the existence of abrogation mentioned in this verse is the expression “Allah knows best what He sent down”. It is stronger than the verse where the term naskh is mentioned as above, as the term āyah could also mean “sign”, namely, the sign of Allah’s existence through His creation. There are many signs of Allah which are extinct and have been replaced by others, such as the dinosaurs. The mammoths, the extinct elephants that lived in North America, Europe and Asia during Pleistocene times (namely, beginning 1.8 million years ago and ending 10,000 years ago, where glaciers were still abundant, altering the land), and whose remains are found worldwide, have been replaced by the present day elephants.

فَبِظُلْمٍ مِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَاتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ

 وَبِصَدِّهِمْ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا (النساء : ١٦٠)

  For the wrongdoing of the Jews, We made unlawful

 for them certain good foods which had been lawful to

 them—and for their hindering many

 from Allah’s way (Q. 4: 160)

The existence of abrogation in this verse is very clear, namely, the substitution of the legal judgment from h.alāl (lawful) to h.arām (unlawful).

 يَمْحُوا اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيُثْبِتُ وَعِنْدَهُ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ (الرعد : ٣٩)

Allah blots out what He wills and confirms (what

 He wills). And withHim is the Mother of the

 Book (al-Lawh. Al-Mah.fūz.) (Q. 13:39)

In this verse the two meanings of the term naskh, namely, abrogation and confirmation, are mentioned. For scholars who deny the existence of abrogation in the verses of the Qur’ān, such as Abū Zahrah, Muh.ammad al-Ghazālī, ‘Abd al-Muta‘āl al-Jabarī and al-Khud.arī, what is called naskh is only the application of laws in stages, such as the prohibition of consuming alcohol for Muslims.

The importance of this science of the Qur’ān is that by knowing what is called nāsikh (abrogating verses) and mansūkh (abrogated verses) we can deny the allegation of those who attack the Qur’ān of being inconsistent in its legal judgments. (ANUMA, 02.05.08)

 KHUTAB IV: