Naskh (نسخ) is an Arabic word usually translated as "abrogation". In tafsir, or Islamic legal exegesis, naskh recognizes that one rule might not always be suitable for every situation. In the widely recognized and "classic" form of naskh, one ḥukm "ruling" is abrogated to introduce an exception to the general rule, but the text the ḥukm is based on is not repealed.

Some examples of Islamic rulings based on naskh include a gradual ban on consumption of alcohol (originally alcohol was not banned, but Muslims were told that the bad outweighed the good in drinking) and a change in the direction of the qibla, the direction that should be faced when praying salat (originally Muslims faced Jerusalem, but this was changed to face the Kaaba in Mecca).

With few exceptions, Islamic revelations do not state which Quranic verses or hadith have been abrogated, and Muslim exegetes and jurists have disagreed over which and how many hadith and verses of the Quran are recognized as abrogated,

Other issues of disagreement include whether the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, can be abrogated by the Sunnah, the body of traditional social and legal custom and practice of the Islamic community, or vice versa – a disagreement in Sunni Islam between the Shafiʽi and Hanafi schools of fiqh;

Several ayat (Quranic verses) state that some revelations have been abrogated and superseded by later revelations, and narrations from Muhammad's companions mention abrogated verses or rulings of the religion. The principle of abrogation of an older verse by a new verse in the Quran, or within the hadiths is an accepted principle of all four Sunni madhāhib, or schools of fiqh, and was an established principle in Sharia by at least the 9th century. Starting in the 19th century, modernist and Islamist scholars have argued against the concept of naskh, defending the absolute validity of the Quran.

An abrogated text or ruling is called mansūkh, and the text or ruling which abrogates it is called nāsikh.

Definition and etymology

In the Arabic language, naskh () can be defined as abolition, abrogation, cancellation, invalidation, copying, or transcription, according to the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic.

As an Islamic term, there is a lack of agreement among scholars on what exactly al-Naskh is (according to several sources).

  • According to Louay Fatoohi, "the term naskh never appears in the Qur'an in the meaning it acquired in Islamic law". A detailed examination of the two Quranic verses "seen by scholars as providing support to the principle of abrogation", shows that neither actually refers to "the concept of abrogation".
  • Israr Ahmad Khan states that those who have read "the works of Abu Ubayd, al-Nahhas, Makki, Ibn al-Arabi, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Zarkashi, al-Suyuti, and al-Dehlawi on the issue of abrogation will be confused regarding its definition".
  • John Burton complains that the "greatest imaginable confusion reigns as to the definition of the term naskh", and that "an appalling degree of muddle" surrounds the meaning of verse Q.2:106 – "the Abrogation verse"; and that "the constant confusion of 'suppression' with 'supersession causes the reader "endless difficulty".
  • Ahmad Ali Al-Imam states "most scholars ... differ on many points" of naskh, "particularly on its meaning, modes, and examples".

Disputes over what defines naskh include

  • whether the wording of the Quran can be abrogated while the ruling based on it is not (most scholars believe the ruling must be abrogated also), including things that later scholars did not consider naskh, such as:
  1. exceptions to earlier verses,|group=Note

Definitions of naskh given by Islamic scholars include:

  • "abrogation, revocation, repeal. Theoretical tool used to resolve contradictions in Quranic verses, hadith literature, tafsir (Quranic exegesis), and usul al-fiqh (roots of law), whereby later verses (or reports or decisions) abrogate earlier ones" (Oxford Dictionary of Islam);
  • an exegetical (explaining) theory of the repeal or abolition of a law for divine commands in the Quran and the Hadith, wherein the contradictory verses, within or between these Islamic scriptures, are analyzed (David S. Powers); through naskh, the superseding verse as well as the superseded verse(s) are determined for the purposes of formulating Sharia;
  • "obliteration, cancellation, transfer, suppression, suspension" depending on the context, (Badshah, Naeem, et al.);
  • suspension or replacement of one Sharia ruling by another with the conditions that the ruling that suspends/replaces is of a subsequent origin, and that the two rulings are enacted separately from one another, (Recep Dogan);

John Burton cites three scholars of Quranic interpretation with three different definitions of abrogation supporting different definitions of abrogation

  1. Suddi: naskh means withdrawal (qabd).
  2. Ibn 'Abbas: it means 'replacement' (tabdil) (Q. 16: 101).
  3. Ibn abi Najih reports from the followers of Ibn Mas'uid: "We endorse (nuthbit, cf. Q. 13: 39) the wording, but replace (nubaddil, cf. Q. 16: 101) the ruling" (known as naskh al-hukm dūna al-tilāwa see below).

The phrase al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh (الناسخ والمنسوخ, "the abrogating and abrogated [verses]") is often used in study of Naskh; both nasikh and mansukh share the same root as naskh.|group=Note

Scriptural basis

Quran

According to non-Muslim scholar of Islam John Burton, "no single verse" in the Quran "unequivocally points to the naskh of any other verse", (nor does any "irreproachable" hadith identify "any one verse as having either undergone or effected naskh"). Islamic Modernist mufti Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) also stated "the Quran nowhere announced that verse so-and-so is naskh, or that verse such-and-such is mansukh."

Many of the verses believed to indicate the principle of naskh do not contain any form of the word naskh, i.e. any word with the triconsonantal root n-s-kh. Instead, they use "in place of" (baddal), "efface" (yamhua), "withdraw" (nadhhabanna لَنَذْهَبَنَّ), or "forget" (tansha تَنسَىٰٓ) which are all interpreted to refer to the process of naskh:

Of the four verses within the Qur'an that do contain some form of the word naskh — verses Q.7:154, Q.45:29, Q.22:52, and Q.2:106 — in two cases the word has nothing to do with abrogation of divine revelation, but is used in the context of texts and scribal activity:

  • —and

The two verse that do involve abrogation are

  • , a verse allegedly referring to the Satanic Verse(s), (see below) and
  • , which is called a "Verse of abrogation".

Verses of abrogation

Q2:106 and Q16:101 are the two "verses of abrogation" contained in the Quran.

At one point Malik notes that "his teacher Zuhrī had told him that the Muslims had adopted as standard the latest of all the Prophet's reported actions" when there is a conflict. In another chapter Mālik states that of the two conflicting Qur'an rulings, "one had replaced the other". Elsewhere, Mālik "rejects the notion that a ruling remains valid despite the withdrawal" of the (supposed) Qur'an verse the ruling is based on. Critics have called this a case of passages called for killing abrogating ones calling for tolerance. and a classic example of determining the validity of a verse by determining when it was revealed.

Liaquat Ali Khan states that "very few Muslim jurists concede that any portion of the Quran has been removed" through this mode of abrogation.

As to how both ruling and wording were abrogated, supporters point to divine intervention into the memories of Muhammad and his companions causing them to forget a revelation.

"Qur'ān-forgetting is clearly adumbrated in the Qur'ān", according to Burton, and couple of verses of the Quran talk of God taking away a revelation or causing it to be forgotten:

A number of hadith also attest to the phenomenon of forgetting revelation — some describing the forgetting as "a natural failure" of Muhammad's or companions memory, and others as a "miraculous intervention" by God. One claims that entire suras which the Muslims had previously recited, would be discovered one morning to have been completely erased from memory.

The question of whether not just some but all abrogated verses (mansukh) were deleted from the mushaf, (meaning that contrary to scholarly consensus, there is no "classic" mode of naskh, no #1. naskh al-hukm dūna al-tilāwa, because nothing included in the mushaf has been abrogated, no mansukh is found there) has been raised by Roslan Abdul-Rahim.

According to Roslan Abdul-Rahim,

Abrogation of Quran and Sunnah by one another

Yet another way of classifying naskh is by what kind of revelation is abrogated and what kind is abrogating.

Some scholars (a minority) believe that different types of revelation cannot abrogate each other — a part of the Sunnah can never abrogate a verse of the Quran and vice versa.

Distinguishing between which of the two kinds of revelations are involved in abrogating and in being abrogated creates four variations of naskh in this classification:

  1. a ruling from a verse of the Quran is abrogated by another conflicting ruling from another verse in the Quran (almost all the examples of naskh mentioned above are this form);
  2. a ruling in the Sunnah is abrogated by another conflicting ruling from the hadith

...has been abrogated by a hadith included in Sunan Abu Dawood collection.

  • Abu Dawud, Sunan Abi Dawud 2870. "... no bequest must be made to an heir."

An example of variety #4, (abrogation of part of the Sunnah by a Qur'anic verse) is found above as an example of Explicit Naskh above — namely what the qiblah (direction facing during salah prayer) should be. This direction was originally Jerusalem/Quds according to hadith included in the collection Sahih al-Bukhari (41)

  • ... when the Prophet first came to Madinah ... he prayed facing towards Bayt al-Maqdis for sixteen or seventeen months." (John Burton notes that there is no reference in the Quran to praying in the direction of Jerusalem.)

Arguments on abrogation between sources

While abrogation by the same type of revelation — i.e. varieties #1 and #2 — are accepted by all scholars (i.e. all who support the orthodox theory of abrogation), abrogation between types of revelation — #3 and #4 — are not.

The Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islam maintained that a Sunnah practice from a Hadith can never abrogate a Quranic verse, (according to Yusuf Suiçmez). In contrast, the Hanafi fiqh of Sunni Islam, from the days of Abu Hanifa, along with his disciples such as Abu Yusuf, believe that Sunnah can abrogate a Quranic verse.

(Q.10:15 specifically refers to the Quran and both verses uses the word ayah, which is the term used to refer to Quranic verses — although as mentioned earlier ayah is also used to refer to other "signs" of God.)

For Al-Shāfi'ī "I merely follow what is being revealed to me" in meant to that "the sunnah cannot abrogate the Book" but only "follow what it laid down in" it, (according to Yusuf Suiçmez).

Al-Shafi'i adduces Q.2:106 as "categorically" allowing abrogation of the Quran only by the Quran, according to Ahmad Hasan, and argues that the Quran cannot abrogate the Sunnah because if this were allowed a "host of rules framed by the Prophet would be cancelled". (Stoning of adulterers would be replaced by flogging, etc.) i.e. having spoken a revelation contradicting what he said or did to his companions, God's messenger would correct what he spoke or did.

"Shāfi'ī set his face decidedly against any acceptance of the idea then current that in all such cases the Qur'ān had abrogated the Sunnah, or the Sunnah the Qur'ān," Burton writes. Shafi'i insisted that "... any verbal discrepancies between the Qur'ān and the reported sayings or reports of the practices of Muhammed — the Sunnah of the Prophet" were illusions that "could always be removed on the basis of a satisfactory understanding of the mechanism of revelation and the function of the prophet-figure".

Shafi'i's stance was a reaction to larger developments within Islamic jurisprudence, particularly the reformulation of the fiqh away from early foreign or regional influences and toward more eminently Islamic bases such as the Quran. This assertion of Qur'anic primacy was accompanied by calls for an abandonment of the Sunnah. Shāfi'ī's insistence upon the impossibility of contradiction between Sunnah and Qur'an can thus be seen as one component in this larger effort of rescuing the Sunnah:

According to Burton, another argument against this "crossover" of types of revelation in abrogation revolved around concern that unbelievers would use it to argue against the validity of Islam.

If the Sunnah "naskhed" the Quran, unbelievers would be able to say that "Muhammad was saying or doing the opposite of what he alleged was being revealed to him by God"; while if the Quran abrogated the Sunnah they could claim that "God was belying the man who claimed to be His Prophet".

;Replies

One reply to these arguments against crossover of kinds of revelation in abrogation was that the Sunnah — like the Quran — "had also been revealed to Muhammad", and if the Sunnah abrogated the Quran or vice versa, it was "merely" a matter of "one element of revelation" replacing "another". to justify their opinion that abrogation of the Qur'an by the life actions of Muhammad (Sunnah) was based solely on his Divine inspiration, that when he acted or said anything, any abrogation implicit through his action, of the earlier Qur'anic ruling was from Allah alone. The only explanation for this was that this point of Islamic law was based on abrogation of the Quran by the Sunnah.

Abrogation of Jewish and Christian texts

One type of abrogation over which there is little dispute among Muslims is "external naskh",

A wide variety of Islamic scholars — Syed Ahmad Khan, (Burton is among those in the "mainstream" of the Islamic studies field of fiqh/Islamic law led by Ignác Goldziher and Joseph Schacht who hold that fiqh doctrine did not grow directly and organically from the Quran and sayings and doings of Muhammad but was already established and sometimes in contradiction with the Quran when the theory of naskh was established.) This sort of naskh would be the "classical" form of abrogation, namely abrogation of rulings but not text as (1. naskh al-hukm dūna al-tilāwa). But if this was the case, would not Q.2:106 read:

  • "Whatever existing ritual or legal regulation We suppress or cause to abandon, We shall bring in its place another superior to it or at least similar to it... "

... instead of what it does say:

  • "What We abrogate (of) a sign or [We] cause it to be forgotten, We bring better than it or similar (to) it."

Furthermore, Burton argues (according to Bernard Weiss) that rather than fiqh scholars deciding which of two (or more) conflicting verses should be the basis of a ruling in Islamic law by determining which verse came later, the scholars searched for "text that supported" an already established doctrine of Islamic law and then postulating "a chronology" whereby that supportive text came "later and the non-supportive text earlier".

Scholar Roslan Abdul-Rahim defends the concept of naskh pointed out the numerous Islamic scholars who have studied and written on the subject and how "very elaborate, sophisticated and ... complex" scholarly discussion of naskh became. In addition, theories have been developed as to how to deal with contradictions in the Quran and/or Sunnah, and what Q.2:106 ("None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause it to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar ...") is referring to if not orthodox naskh of the Quran.

;Naskh as abrogation of Jewish and Christian texts

As mentioned above, the idea that Islamic revelation abrogates earlier Jewish and Christian religious laws handed down by monotheist messengers before Muhammad, is widely accepted among Muslims. According to Muhammad Sameel 'Abd al-Haqq, there are "many" commentators and other scholars who believe that in ayah Q.2:106 ("None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause it to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar ...") the phrase "Our revelations" refers to the revelations before the Qur'an; "something better or similar" refers to the Quran itself. According to Mohammed al-Ghazali, "The revelation of the Qur'an, ... is an abrogation of some of the legislation of the People of the Scriptures (Jews and Christians). ... There is no contradiction in the Qur'an whatsoever ..." As to why "some of the most eminent authorities of tafsir" have not agreed with this explanation, he argues it is because

  1. the Arabic word that is translated as "revelation" in verses Q.2:106 and Q.16:101 (ayah) is also the word used "in common parlance" to refer to the verses that make up the surahs of the Quran.
  2. the word used to describe the Quran, the Jewish Torah or the Christian New Testament in the Quran is kitab (literally "book").

However, to believe Q.2:106 and Q.16:101 are referring to verses in the Quran, Hasan says,

<blockquote>is an error. Ayah literally means 'a sign', token, or mark by which a person or thing is known and is synonymous with `alamah. It, by implication, also means 'a message, or communication sent from one person or party to another' and is in this sense synonymous with risalah. These Meccan verses give more prominence to the position of women and praise other prophets and their communities — i.e. Jews and Christians. Taha argues that the Medinan surah, though revealed later in the mission of Muhammad, are not corrections of Meccan revelations but contain specialized commands/doctrine, "compromises" for the political climate, which while appropriate for their time are not eternal and are not necessarily appropriate for the 20th or 21st century. Mohammed al-Ghazali also states, "There is no contradiction in the Qur'an whatsoever, for every verse has a context within which it functions. ... He, the Legislator who knows the conditions in which the verses may be applied, and it is in this manner that the Qur'anic verses are to be considered in light of the state of human affairs — with wisdom and exhortation." but in Ahmadī fiqh rulings apply to the specific situation for which a verse/hadith was revealed

The remainder of the introduction then typically treats the various modes of naskh, naskhs applicability between Sunnah and Qur'ān, and- in appeasement of theological scruples- why naskh is not the same as badā', or inconstancy of the Divine Will. Following this comes the core of the treatise, an enumeration of abrogated verses in sūra order of the Qur'ān. In their consideration of nāsikh wal-mansūkh the taxonomic predilections of these authors comes out, evinced in their discussions of special verses considered "marvels" (ajā'ib) of the Qur'an, such as the verse which abrogates the greatest number of other verses (Q.9:5), the verse which was in effect longest until it was abrogated (Q.46:9), and the verse which contains both an abrogatee and its abrogator (Q.5:105).

Works

The following is a list of classical examples of the genre:

  • "al-Zuhrī", Naskh al-Qur-ān
  • Abū 'Ubaid al-Qāsim b. Sallām (d. 838), Kitāb al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh (Book of the Abrogating and Abrogated [Verses])
  • al-Nahhās (d. 949), Kitāb al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh
  • Hibat Allāh ibn Salāma (d. 1019), Kitāb al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh
  • al-Baghādī (d. 1037), al-Nāsikh wal-mansūkh
  • Makkī b. Abū Tālib al-Qaisī (d. 1045) al-Īdāh li-nāsikh al-Qur'ān wa-mansūkhihi
  • Ibn al-'Atā'iqī (d. 1308), al-Nāsikh wal-mansūkh
  • Ibn Hkuzayma al-Fārisī, Kitāb al-mujāz fī'l-nāsikh wa'l-mansūkh
  • Ibn Al-Jawzī, Nawāsikh al-Qur-ān
  • Jalāl-ud-Dīn al-Suyūţi, Al-Itqān fi Ulūm al-Qur-ān

Modern examples include:

  • Ahmad Shah Waliullah Dehlvi, Al-Fawz al-Kabir
  • Mustafā Zayd, Al-Naskh fil-Qur'ān al-Karim, Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-'Arabī, 1963
  • Ali Hasan Al-Arīď, Fatħ al-Mannān fi naskh al-Qur-ān
  • Abd al-Mutaāl al-Jabri, Al-Nāsikh wal-Mansūkh bayn al-Ithbāt wal-Nafy, Cairo: Wahba Bookstore, 1987
  • Mustafa Ibrahīm al-Zalmi, Al-Tibyān liraf` Ghumūď al-Naskh fi al-Qur-ān, Arbīl: National Library, Iraq, 2000
  • Ihāb Hasan Abduh, Istiħālat Wujūd al-Naskh fi al-Qurān, Cairo: Al-Nāfitha Bookstore, 2005

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

  • .
  • Book: Abrogation in the Qur'an and Islamic Law
  • Submission.org's claim against the Quran-Abrogation