THE QUR'AN

AND THE THEORY OF ABROGATION

It has been said that some of the rulings in the Qur'an have been
abrogated (Mansukh). What is meant by this abrogation?

The Arabic term Naskh implies setting aside, copying and the
like. By Naskh is also meant the transcribing of a book and the moving
aside of the sunlight by the shade. Technically, however, Naskh implies
the abrogation of one religious law by another. The abrogated law is
then called Mansukh and the law that replaces it is known as Nasikh.
In contradiction from the other animals man continues to grow
intellectually, mentally and culturally with the passage of time. His
surroundings and environment, too, continue to change. In all probability
then, the moral laws which he must accept would also change with his
environment.
The moral laws of the first family of humans is a case in point.
There it was morally correct for brothers and sisters to be committed
in marriage with each other. For the continuation of the human species
such a moral code was indispensable. However, the conditions changed
as time went by. Numerous families came into being. Then the law
that brothers and sisters were not to marry each other came into effect.
It was at a particular stage of the development of the human species
that this law came into force. With the revelation of this law, that
which was permitted previously was now prohibited. The new law
thus became the very cornerstone of the institution of the family and,
thereby, of the very existence of human society.
The old law had been given unto the children of Adam by the
Lord Creator Himself. The new law, too, had been given by Him. For
it is, indeed, He who is best aware of the intricacies of human society.

Who besides He Himself can alter the laws required by humanity as
the society evolved with time ?

There are various examples from the religious scriptures that
show how amendments were made in the laws. Such amendments
might have been intended for a particular region or society. It may
also have been a wholly general amendment as well.
For instance, consider the ruling concerning the issue of divorce.
It is clear from the Old Testament of the Bible (Deuteronomy 24:1-4,
Jeremiah 3:12) that divorce had been very common among the Israelites.
Jesus had to face a society wherein the permission for divorce was
misused and in which the women were, thereby, put to undue hardships.
It is now known that in the laws that were revealed to Jesus, there
were legislations that sought to strictly curtail the very provision of
divorce. The varying manner in which Jesus made his extreme
statments against divorce notwithstanding, they have all been quoted
faithfully in the collection of the gospels. This ruling against divorce
was revealed, perhaps, to bring down the rate of divorce among the
Israelites and to restrict that freedom considerably. Jesus himself had
made it clear that his mission was confined to the Israelites alone (See
Mathew 5:17, 10:5, 15:24). This would then imply that the strict ruling
which had prohibited, albeit, in a temporary way, the procedure of
divorce, revealed as it was through Jesus Christ, had sought to change
the condition of the Israelites whereby the institution of divorce was
employed with reckless impunity.
It was the permission for divorce which was, in fact, conceded
by the ruling in the Old Testament that was now abrogated by the
ruling issued through Jesus. Similarly, many of the rulings in the Old
Testament can be seen to have undergone abrogation by other rulings
within the Old Testament itself.
In similar fashion, too, many of the rulings in the ancient religious
scriptures have been abrogated by the Qur'an. Indeed, some of the
earlier rulings in the Qur'an itself have been abrogated by the rulings
that were revealed at a later date. Factually, of course, such changes
were an indispensable necessity in the due course of societal
transformation.

Will it not affect the status of the Qur'an’s divinity if it is said that
it became necessary to change some of the earlier injunctions of
the Qur'an at a later period in time ? If the Qur'an is, indeed,
from the Omniscient God would such changes have been
necessary ?

In truth, the fact that some of the rulings in the Qur'an have
been abrogated actually represents one of the evidences to prove its
divinity. The Qur'an is the last book that has been revealed by God for
the guidance of humanity. It is a book that puts forward wholly
practicable methods in the moulding of an ideal society on the basis of
a moral code which it, in itself, dictates. It is, in addition, a book that
seeks to show how, in the process of creating an exemplary and ideal
society out of nothing but the most primitive human conditions, the
divine law had influenced the making of such a society in the various
stages of its evolution. The Qur'an does not contain certain numbered
injunctions like the Ten Commandments that were revealed by God. It
is, in fact, the compendium of laws that grew with the beat and rhythm
of an evolving society that would eventually result in the fruitful
transformation of an entire people. In that chain of legislation, it is but
natural that the rulings that came at a time of total decadence will
become irrelevant when the society has gone past that stage in its
evolution. It is this loss of relevance that is, in fact, implied in the term
‘abrogation.’
Consider, for instance, the verses related to the consumption of
intoxicants. It must be remembered that the Qur'an was revealed to a
society that virtually bathed in wine. It was not about wine, which
turned man into beast, that the Qur'an first talked to them about. The
Qur'an firstly impressed upon their minds the purest conception about
God and of the unflinching awareness of the Hereafter. Indeed, the
Qur'an had, as the first step, sought to create a readiness in submitting
one’s entire life before the Creator. It was after having created a
mind-set to which the acceptance of all legislations that were confirmed
to have been issued from God had become easy that the Qur'an
declared: “They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say:
‘In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is
greater than the profit.’” (Qur'an 2:219)
This was the first stage. The Qur'an’s approach here has been
to first seek to show the benefits, or otherwise, of a thing and to make
it clear that the sin in it would be greater than any benefit that may
accrue thereof.
With this verse, the society, now trained in alienating itself from
sin and in moving along the path of virtue, soon begins to free itself
from the vice-like grip of intoxicants and gambling. It was then that
the second verse was revealed: “O ye who believe! Approach not
prayers in a state of intoxication, until ye can understand all
that say ...” (Qur'an 4:43)
The prayer constitutes a conservation with the Lord Creator.
However, many a man approached prayer in a state of intoxication.
Indeed, the degree of their slavery to intoxicants can be seen from this
single fact. The Qur'an had then made the second step towards
achieving the goal of a society that was free of intoxicants. Prayer
must be made only with the acute awareness of that which is being
said in the conservation with God; with the mind and heart solemnly
influenced by that which is being uttered therein. Briefly put, therefore,
prayer must never be in a state of intoxication.
With the arrival of the second ruling a good section of those
conscious of God were freed of their slavery to intoxicating drinks.
They resolved, thenceforth, that they would, at least, abstain from
intoxicants during the times of the five daily prayers. It was then that
the third ruling, which sought to fully abolish all intoxicants, was finally
revealed.
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, sacrificing
to stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination - of
Satan’s handiwork: Eschew such (abomination), that ye may
prosper. Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred
between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you
from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not
then abstain?” (Qur'an 5:90,91)
With the revelation of this verse, the other verses that were
revealed earlier had now become irrelevant. They were, in fact, verses
that had been revealed for the creation of an intoxicant-free society
which were revealed in the two stages of the society’s evolution. It
can, therefore, be said that with the coming of this verse, the other
two verses had, for all practical purposes, become abrogated.
It was mentioned earlier that even this abrogation serves only
to stress the divine nature of the Qur'an. Prophet Muhammad (e)
was, himself, never one to take intoxicating drinks even before his
attainment of prophethood. Even if he were to put forward a law
against intoxicants which was of his own making, it would have been
in a fashion that straightaway prohibited all intoxicants forthwith.
However, it is the Creator who is best aware of the intricacies as well
as of the methodology of variation of the human mind. It is for that
same reason that He brought a law into effect stage by stage. When
such is the implementative process, therefore, it is only natural that the
laws issued in the earlier stage tend to be abrogated at a later stage.
This is why it has been said that the Qur'an makes it clear that these
abrogations are, indeed, from Allah, the Omniscient.

The verses which contain the abrogated rulings are, to this very
day, found to exist within the Qur'an. Why is this so ?

When we set about to study the nature of abrogation in the
Qur'an, there is an important fact that we must first consider. By
abrogation is not meant the abrogation of the verses per se, rather, it
has only been the legal decrees in these verses that were abrogated.
The verses in the Qur'an which contain the abrogated laws serve to
show how it was that the divine revelation influenced the evolutionary
history of a community as a whole. The Qur'an has never been a book
of morality alone; it is also a book of guidance for societal change.
In having retained verses, the rulings enshrined in which were
themselves abrogated, it was, perhaps, the purpose of God to show
the reformers of every age how it was that a society which was
culturally and civilizationally a non-entity, was positively transformed
on the firm foundations of divine guidance; this was in addition to
showing how the Qur'anic directives were to be implemented under
such circumstances.
As far as the community of Muslims is, concerned, such verses
are of educative value and so they are of of prime relevance. The
basic sources of Islam are the Qur'an and the practices of the Prophet.
It is the duty of the scholars in every age to find the solutions to the
problems that present themselves continually before the society at
large; solutions that are formulated in the light of these most basic of
sources. When confronted with every new problem, the scholars must
provide for solutions that are based on an acute understanding of the
stands taken by the Qur'an and the Prophet whenever the resolution
of a similar problem comes up before them. This would not be possible
in the absence of a sound knowledge in the positions adopted by the
Qur'an and the Prophet in varying, circumstances.
In the cases of abrogation, although the law has been replaced,
if the verses which were revealed in varying circumstances had not
been preserved the Muslim community could have faced the bleak
prospect of groping in the dark when faced with such situations. Here,
too, it becomes clear to us that these verses have served only to prove
the truth of the Qur'an being revealed by the Creator Who has the
knowledge ebout everything.

There is also an opinion which holds that there are no abrogated
verses, whatsoever, within the Qur'an. Is this true ?

There are scholars who are of the view that there are no
abrogated verses in the Qur'an. A good, and authoritative, majority of
the scholars, however, tend to say that such a viewpoint would be
incorrect. These scholars uphold, as the most important point in their
favour, the fact that the Qur'an itself has indicated this possibility. The
relevant verses are as follows:
“None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be
forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar:
knowest thou not that God hath power over all things ?” (2:106)
“When We substitute one revelation for another - and
God knows best what He reveals (in stages) - They say, ‘Thou
art but a forger’ but most of them know not.” (16:101)
It is the contention of those who claim that there is not extant
any abrogated verse in the Qur'an that these verses refer to the
abrogation of the previously revealed scriptures by the Qur'an itself.
Furthermore, they contend that it would be possible to so interpret the
supposedly abrogated verses as to make them to conform with the
meaning of the newly revealed laws. As for those scholars who oppose
this view, they believe that to so interpret it would be quite unnecessary
and that it would be more logical to say that the earlier rulings were,
indeed, abrogated.
Both these conflicting views, notwithstanding, it has been
accepted by the two sides, at least in theory, that some of the laws
which prevailed in the initial stages of the reforming mission were,
however, rendered irrelevant by the time of the last phase. Indeed, the
moot point in this difference of opinion has only been the question as
to whether the term abrogation may, or may not, be used in the context.
There has also been the opinion that around two hundred of the
verses of the Qur'an have been abrogated. Is this true ?
The term naskh has the connotation of replacement. To inform
the functional end of anything based on this meaning; to show that it is
not the apparent meaning of a particular word that is intended; to show that a law which has been declared conditional as being able to
exist without any condition, whatsoever; to understand a ruling which
is held to be general in its application as being particular; to replace
any of the usual practices which prevailed before Islam; these and
similar acts come within the gambit of the term naskh as is seen the
opinions of some scholars of yesteryear. If such, indeed, is the case,
naskh implies a wide connotation and as a natural corollary to this
idea many more verses would tend to fall within this sphere of meaning.
It has been because of this that some books do state that around two
hundred of the verses of the Qur'an have been subject to the procedure
of naskh. Apart from this, it does not is any way mean that they have
been abrogated.
In reality, however, the verses of the Qur'an that harbour within
themselves laws that have actually been abrogated are very few indeed.
In fact they are as few as to enable one to count them on the fingers
of one’s hands. The idea that there are around two hundred abrogated
verses in the Qur'an had gained currency because of the mistake of
the earlier writers in composing books prior to a proper understanding
of the subject. They had accepted the meaning of naskh only in the
narrow sense of abrogation and had prematurely arrived at the
conclusion that the legal decrees in all verses deemed abrogated by
the predecessors were, themselves, subject to replacement. However,
the truth of the matter has been that the rulings embodied in such
verses were never abrogated per se. On the contrary, they remain as
legally applicable as ever.