abrogation

mikhael76

assalaamulaikum,

im still new muslim (+1 years),
and would like to know what is the official decision about 'abrogation' in Quran?

Are there some verses that are meant to be replaced with another (new) verse/command?

2:106 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?

[ Last edited by  mikhael76 at 28-8-2006 03:35 PM ]

ibnur

I got this posting from another forum and it has a good explaination.  Alhamdulillah and thanks to the brother who wrote it.  


A missing verse on stoning?

In Sahih al Bukhari Volume 8, pages 209-210, we read this sermon delivered by Hadhrath Umar during his last Hajj as Khalifa: "Certainly Allah sent Muhammad with the truth, and revealed to him the Book. One of the revelations which came to him was the verse of stoning. We read it and understood it". "The Messenger of God stoned and we stoned after him. I am concerned that if time goes on, someone may say, 'By God, we do not find the verse of stoning in the Book of God;' thus, the Muslims will deviate by neglecting a commandment the Almighty revealed." "Stoning is in the Book of God. It is the right punishment for a person who commits adultery if the required witnesses are available, or there was pregnancy without marriage or adultery is
admitted."

Hadhrath Ayesha also testified to a 'missing' verse on stoning
"When the verses "Rajm" [Stoning] and ayah "Rezah Kabir" descended, they were written on a piece of paper and kept under my pillow. Following the demise of Prophet Muhammad (S) a goat ate the piece of paper while we were mourning.
1. Sunan Ibne Majah, Volume 2, Page 39, Published Karachi.
2. Musnad Imam Ahmad, Volume 6, Page 269, Published Beirut.
3. Taweel Mukhtalif Al hadees, Page 310, Published Beirut

These narrations talk of quranic verses that were abrogated. Allah says in the Quran: 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?" [Al-Qur'an 2:106] as the concept of abrogation is very vast and needs proper understanding please click here and read before we proceed:
http://www.irf.net/irf/faqonislam/index.htm

One type of abrogration in the Quran was that a verse was revealed and was recited for some time . Later on by divine injunction it was no longer considered to be a part of the quran but the verdicts of the abrogated verse remained established and explained better by another revealed verse. Of these verse one included the verse that stated if a married old man commits adultery with a married old woman then their punishment is stoning. This verse was later on no longer considered to be recited as a part of the Quran by the divine injunction, but however the ruling remained. Another verse was revealed in surah noor which explained the punishment for adulterers and adulteresses who were not married. Likewise is the explanation for the other abrogated verse "Rezah Kabir." As these verses were no longer a part of the Quran, therefore no significance was given as a goat ate the paper that contained those verses.

Continue next post......

[ Last edited by  ibnur at 28-8-2006 09:46 PM ]

ibnur

In order to explain the issue of this type of aborgation more, I will quote an occurrance that happened during the incident of "Beir Mou'na". Some members of the tribes of Zahl, Dakwan and Banu Leyhan apparently adopted Islam. They went to the Prophet and asked him to send some of his companions to them for teaching the religion . They Prophet sent them some 70 Qurra or reciters of the Quran. When they reached the region of Beir Moun'a these tribesmen breached their vowes and attacked the Qurra. These companions of the Prophet got martyred. After they got martyred they beseeched God to inform his Prophet on what they went through.

So God revealed this verse :" Balighu Ana Qaumana Eyna Laqeena Rabina fa Razeiy'aa Ana wa Arzaana." Meaning :"Inform our people from our side that we met out Lord, who got pleased with us and we are pleased with him."This verse was recited as a part of the Quran, but was later on was cancelled out to be a part of the Holy Scripture.
[Sahih Bukharee, the book of alMaghazi, chapter of Ghazwa Ar Rajee Beir Maouna; also Sahih Muslim, book of al-Emarah, chapter Thubut al Janah leyish Shaheed]


Has most of Surah Ahzab been lost?

Al-Muttaqi 'Ali bin Husam al-Din in his book "Mukhtasar Kanz al-'Ummal" printed on the margin of Imam Ahmad's Musnad, Volume 2, page 2, in his hadith about chapter 33, said that Ibn Mardawayh reported that Hudhayfah said: 'Umar said to me 'How many verses are contained in the chapter of al-Ahzab?' I said, '72 or 73 verses.' He said it was almost as long as the chapter of the Cow, which contains 287 verses, and in it there was the verse of stoning. Note that Umar uses the past tense with respect to the length of the surah al-Ahzab. We can understand from here that the abrogated verses on stoning as mentioned and explained in the above was actually a part of this surah and was latter on removed by divine injunction. Nowhere in this narration one can see that Umar while talking to Hudaifah believes that this surah is incomplete . He was just talking about the surah before its pre-abrogation state Suyuti narrates from Hadhrath Ayesha: "During the life of the Prophet (s), Surah Ahzab was read with 200 verses, when Uthman collected the verses we only found that amount that is found in the current Qur'an".
Tafseer Durre Manthur Volume 5 page 180, al Itqan Volume 2 page 25 Dure Manthur is a secondary source, meaning that it does not have isnad for its narrations. If there is a narration in this book not found in other primary sources, it is rejected.

It is possible to state that Surah al-Ahzaab during its pre-abrogation state had more than or almost 200 verses as evident in the narration of Umar ibn al-Khattab as recorded by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad.

Continue next.....

[ Last edited by  ibnur at 28-8-2006 10:21 PM ]

ibnur

A missing verse on suckling Muslim also reported in the Book of al-Rida'ah (Book of Nursing), part 10, page
29, that 'Ayesha said the following: "There was in what was revealed in the Qur'an that ten times of nursing known with certainty makes the nursing woman a mother of a nursed child. This number of nursings would make the woman 'haram' (forbidden) to the child. Thenbv this verse was replaced by 'five known nursings' to make the woman forbidden to the child. The Prophet died while these words were recorded and read in the Qur'an."

Again here abrogation took place. The senario is that the verse along with its verdict got cancelled out from the Quran by divine injunction. The abrogated verse was revealed in a situation that did not last long and hence the verse was no longer applicable at any time. The revelation of the Quran ended during the Prophet's farwell address. This abrogated verse was available as a record but was no longer considered to be a part of the single sacred volume ( prepared during the caliphate of Abu Bakr) due to Naskh. And allah knows best.

ibnur

The refferences for abrogation are al-hadith, but there are few hadith that were not about abrogations....  

Has most of the Qur'an been lost?

Suyuti also records the following words of Abdullah ibne Umar: "No one can proclaim that I have found the Qur'an complete because most of the Qur'an has been lost".  
"Tafseer Durre Manthur" as-Suyuti Volume 1 page 104
This is a fabricated tradition. As I have stated before, Dure Manthour is a secondary source that lacks isnad for its narration. If there is a narration that is an avaiable in the primary sources, then it is rejected for with out doubt it is a fabricated one. These words are not available in any other work we have gone accross. So this saying is given no importance.

Have 'words' been ommitted from the present Qur'an? In Sahih Muslim Volume 7 (commentary of al-Nawawi) in the Book of al-Zakah, about the virtue of being satisfied with whatever God gives and about urging people to have that virtue, pages 139-140, reported that Abu al-Aswad reported that his father said: "Abu Musa al-Ash'ari invited the Qur'an readers of Basra. Three hundred readers responded to his invitation. He told them: You are the readers and the choice of the people of Basra. Recite the Qur'an and do not neglect it. Otherwise, a long time may elapse and your hearts will be hardened as the hearts of those who came before you were hardened."

"We used to read a chapter from the Qur'an similar to Bara'ah in length and seriousness, but I forgot it. I can remember from that chapter only the following words: 'Should a son of Adam own two valleys full of wealth, he would seek a third valley, and nothing would fill Ibn Adam's abdomen but the soil. "'We used to read a chapter similar to Musabbihat and I forgot it. I only remember out of it the following: "'Oh you who believe, why do you say what you do not do? Thus a testimony will be written on your necks and you will be questioned about it on the Day of Judgment." It is obvious that these words which Abu Musa mentioned are not from the Qur'an, nor are they similar to any of the words of God in the Qur'an. It is amazing that Abu Musa claims that two surahs from the Qur'an are missing, one of them similar to Bara'ah (the chapter of Bara'ah contains 130 verses).

In the above narration Abu musa al Ashari forgot and got confused in his memory about some surahs in the
quran which is something common amongst many who memorize this Holy Book. The saying ," 'Should a son of Adam own two valleys full of wealth, he would seek a third valley, and nothing would fill Ibn Adam's abdomen but the soil. " is actually a hadith of the prophet but Abu musa due to lapse of memory thought of
it as a verse in a certain long surah which he forgot. For this reason it is possible that he gathered the hufaaz and scholars of basra in order to correct him and say the right thing regarding the matter he was discussing with them. The same senario took place with the other forgotten surah of the narration. Upon Analysing carefully , No where will a person reach the conclusion that Abu Musa claims that two surahs from the Qur'an are missing.


A further two Surah's missing from the Qur'an Abi bin Ka'ab said that in his copy he has added "Surah Al khula" and "Surah Al hifd". Its verses were "(Actual words are cited in the Arabic text)"
1. Mujma-ul-Zayad, Volume 7, Page 157, Published Egypt
2. Al Itqan Fil Ulum-ul-Qur'an, Volume 2, Page 66, Published Lahore
3. Ruh al Ma'ani Volume 1, Page 25, Egypt

The verses of these two alleged surahs constitute the Qunot supplication that is recited during the the Witr prayer. Jalaludin as Suyuti says in his itqan that the Qunot supplication was revealed as two surahs of the Quran but later on these two Surahs were abrogated and no longer considered to be a part of the Holy Book. We can compare this with the verses that were revealed upon the request of the martyrs of the Bair Maouna incident as reported by al-Bukharee.

Have words been 'added' to the Qur'an?

Alqama went to Sham and when he entered the mosque, he said, "O Allah! Bless me with a pious companion." So he sat with Abu Ad-Darda. Abu Ad-Darda' asked him, "Where are you from?" 'Alqama replied, "From the people of Kufa." Abu Ad-Darda said, "Isn't there amongst you the keeper of the secret which nobody else knows, i.e., Hudhaifa?" Alqama said, "Yes." Then Abu Ad-Darda further said, "Isn't there amongst you the person whom Allah gave refuge from Satan through the invocation of His Prophet, namely Ammar?" Alqama replied in the affirmative. Abu Ad-Darda said, "Isn't there amongst you the person who carries the Siwak (or the Secret) (i.e. of the Prophet, namely Abdullah bin Masud)?" Alqama said, "Yes." Then Abu Ad-Darda asked, "How (Abdullah bin Masud) used to recite the Sura starting with: 'By the night as it envelops; By the day as it appears in brightness?' " (92.1-2). Alqama said "And by male and female." Abu Ad-Darda then said, "These people (of Sham) tried hard to make me accept something other than what I had heard from the Prophet."

We read in Mustadrak:
Abdullah bin Abbas would read the following verse in Surah Nisa "Fa ma asthathamthathu ba manaan ku" with these words 'la ajal masmee". When he was asked about this he said 'Allah (swt) revealed this verse in this way. Of interest is the fact that Allamah Dhahabi in his commentary of Mustadrak, confirms that the chain of narrators in this tradition is Sahih. (Mustadrak ma Talkhees Volume 2 page 305).

What fatwa should we pass here? After all the chain is Sahih and Ibn Abbas is stating that words are missing from the Qur'an. Allah(swt) revealed the Holy Quran in seven different dialects so that all the Arab tribes could understand His Words. These seven Qira'aat gave the same sense, explanation and meaning. They only differed in the wordings, pronouncation and way of expression with the accordance of the dialect of each tribe. For example in the Qurashiite dialect the word Cow was called Baqara whereas in the dialect of Abdulla ibn Masud's Quran this word was pronounced as "Baqira". In the beginning the Arabs had no problem with this. But when Islam spread beyond the borders of Arabia, many non Muslims accepted Islam. The different dialects caused for them to make mistakes and serious errors while reciting the Quran. So inorder to eliminate this danger , Caliph Uthman choose to standardize only one dialect (the Qurashiite dialect) for the Quran throughout the caliphate and proper steps were taken to eliminate ( slowly in some regions like Iraq) recitation or adoption of the other 6 recitations.

The People of Kufa had a different way of recitation than the People of As-Shaam. For this reason we find Ibn Masud to recite the verse 92:1-2 differently that the Syrians. Also Ibn Abbas is reciting that certain vers e in a dialect other than the standardized Qurashiite dialect.

Our challenge to Minhajj - are there mistakes in the Qur'an?

Allamah Suyuti in al Itqan Volume 1 page 174 narrates the following claim of Hadhrath Uthman, compiler of the Qur'an: "There are some mistakes in the present mushaf (Qur'an) that we have". Now Minhajj perhaps you could be so kind as to answer us this, when Hadhrath Uthman had testified that mistakes are prsesnt in the Qur'an then why did he not correct them?

Firstly Itqan does not have an isnad for its narrations. Unless the author as Suyuti specifies that from which primary source he obtained that saying of Uthman, one cannot establish its authenticity. Secondly, let us say after all odds Uthman did say that, we can however interpert his words in different ways. Uthman wanted to prepare a "Mushaff" only in the Qurashiite dialect. He could have been refering to the text compiled by Abu Bakr as that text was a conglomerate of all 7 dialects which was a mistake. It is also possible that while the scribes assigned by Uthman were preparing the text, mistakes did happen which the Caliph noticed and corrected them. How is it possible that a person like Uthman who was well known for his piety and honesty, who received the priveilage of begin the Prophet's Son In Law and who was promised Paradise by Allah's Apostle in this worldly life , would make copies of the Holy Text and send them to all corners of his Caliphate knowingly that it contained errors or mistakes? So even if made that claim, he could have stated it while still the compilation work was not completed and the mistakes were corrected because Allah(swt) clearly states in the Holy Quran: "Indeed we have revealed the Dhikr(Quran) and indeed we are its protectors."

The claim is not just an isolated one we also read in al Itqan Volume 1 pages 183-184 as follows:
"Hashim bin Urwa narrates that he asked Hadhrath Ayesha about mistakes in the Qur'an for example Allah (swt) states 'Al Muqameen' when it should read al 'Muqeemeen', the other says 'al Manaan' when it should state 'al Muneen' and thirdly we read 'al Saboon' when it should read 'al Sabeen'. Hadhrath Ayeshsa replied 'my nephew this has been the mistake of those that transcribed the text".  Allamah Suyuti deems this narration to be Sahih in accordance with the standards of authenticity set by the two Shaykhs (al Bukhari and Muslim). Can we conclude that the presence of this single Sahih hadith is enough to prove that Sunnis believe that there are mistakes in the Qur'an? The hadith is Sahih so Minhajj, you are forced to choose between two options: Hashim ibn Urwa had another Quran in hand which differed in those matters from the text prepared by the Caliph Uthman. So he asked Ayesha about it.Ayesha's reply meant that those who wrote down the Quran with Hashim ibn Urwa, made a mistake when they copied from the Uthmanic text.

As for the narration:
"Hadhrath Umar said at the Saqifa that the Qur'an has 1,027,000 letters" Tafseer al Itqan" by as Suyuti, page 88.  This is also a lie as have stated our Hadith scholars like Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar and Al-Dhahabi.

Apart from that, the difference between abrogation and manipulation is that the first is directed by Allah (swt) while the latter is a result of human interference.

Note: Shiite does not believe the abrogations (al-nansikh wal-mansukh) because they believe that they were manipulation or ignorance of the sahabah.  The bold sentences are my own statements ~ ibnur

ibnur

What is Abrogated?

According to some scholars the Qur'an abrogates only the Qur'an. They base their view on suras 2: 106 and 16: 101. According to them the Qur'an does not abrogate the sunna nor does the sunna abrogate the Qur'an. This is, in particular, the view held by Shafi'i. [For details see Kitab al-risala, Cairo, n.d., pp.30-73; English translation by M. Khadduri, op.cit., pp. 12345; for a brief summary of Ash-Shafi'i's views see also Seeman, K., Ash-Shafi'is Risala, Lahore, 1961, pp.53-85.]

Others are of the opinion that the Qur'an may abrogate the Qur'an as well as the sunna. They base their view on Sura 53: 34.

There is also the view that there are four classes of nasikh:

1. Qur'an abrogates Qur'an.

2. Qur'an abrogates sunna.

3. Sunna abrogates Qur'an.

4. Sunna abrogates sunna. [Qattan, op.cit, pp. 201-2.]



Three Kinds of Nasikh in the Qur'an [Ibn Salama, al-nasikh wa al-mansukh, Cairo, 1966, p.5.]

The scholars have divided abrogation into three kinds:

1. Abrogation of the recited (verse) together with the legal ruling.

2. Abrogation of the legal ruling without the recited (verse).

3. Abrogation of the recited (verse) without the legal ruling.

http://www.sunnipath.com/Resourc ... oks/B0040P0021.aspx


Please remember that after the last revelation, there is no more abrogations.