Abrogation in the Quran: what naskh actually means

Words from the root of naskh occur four times in the Quran, in four verses, and only one of them, Al-Baqarah 106, speaks of abrogating a verse. This article reads the verses the subject of abrogation rests on and, at each one, gives the Sunni reading of al-Tafsir al-Muyassar first, then the Shia readings of al-Safi (al-Fayd al-Kashani) and al-Mizan (al-Tabataba'i).

Quotations from the three commentaries are my renderings of the Arabic.

"We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten"

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?

(Al-Baqarah 2:106)

Al-Muyassar: whatever verse We replace, or remove from hearts and minds, We bring one more beneficial to you, or one like it in obligation and reward; and each has its wisdom. Do you not know, Prophet, you and your community, that God is able and nothing is beyond Him? Al-Safi: "We abrogate" — by lifting its ruling; "or cause it to be forgotten" — by lifting its text and wearing away its memory from hearts, and from your heart, Muhammad, as He said: "We will make you recite, and you will not forget, except what God wills"; "We bring one better" — greater for your reward and weightier for your good — "or like it" in good; that is, We abrogate and replace only for your benefit; and: for benefit differs with times and persons; what helps in one age, or one person, may harm in another. Al-Mizan: it is known that abrogation in the sense familiar to the jurists — making known that a ruling's term has ended — is a technical term that branches from this verse and is drawn from it, one instance of what the verse yields on the meaning of abrogation, by its apparent unrestricted sense; abrogation is not confined to religious rulings but covers matters of creation too; and: the abrogating contains the perfection or benefit that was in the abrogated.

Where they agree

All three agree that what comes after abrogation is better than what was abrogated, or like it, and that this is for the servants' good: al-Muyassar says "each has its wisdom", al-Safi "only for your benefit", and al-Mizan "the abrogating contains the perfection or benefit that was in the abrogated".

Where they differ

They differ on how wide abrogation is: al-Muyassar explains it as replacing a verse and removing it from hearts and minds; al-Safi makes abrogation the lifting of the ruling and forgetting the lifting of the text; al-Mizan makes the jurists' abrogation a technical term branching from the verse, and says abrogation is not confined to religious rulings but covers matters of creation too.

"When We substitute a verse in place of a verse"

And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse - and Allah is most knowing of what He sends down - they say, "You, [O Muhammad], are but an inventor [of lies]." But most of them do not know.

(An-Nahl 16:101)

Al-Muyassar: when We replace one verse with another — and God the Creator best knows His creatures' good in the rulings He sends down at different times — the disbelievers say: you, Muhammad, are a liar inventing what God did not say. Muhammad is not as they claim; most of them know nothing of their Lord or His law and rulings. Al-Safi: "when We substitute a verse in place of a verse" — by abrogation — "and God best knows what He sends down" of benefits, for what is a benefit at one time may be harmful at another; it is an aside rebuking the disbelievers for their words or their state; "they say" — the disbelievers — "you are but an inventor", saying of God what He did not say: you command a thing, then change your mind and forbid it. Al-Mizan: in sending down the Quran with abrogation, renewing a ruling as the benefit is renewed, there is a steadying of those who believe, giving them firmness upon firmness.

All three agree that the substitution in the verse follows the good God knows, and that the disbelievers took it as proof the Prophet was inventing. Al-Mizan adds that abrogation, renewing a ruling as the benefit is renewed, steadies those who believe.

The lightened command in Al-Anfal

O Prophet, urge the believers to battle. If there are among you twenty [who are] steadfast, they will overcome two hundred. And if there are among you one hundred [who are] steadfast, they will overcome a thousand of those who have disbelieved because they are a people who do not understand.

Now, Allah has lightened [the hardship] for you, and He knows that among you is weakness. So if there are from you one hundred [who are] steadfast, they will overcome two hundred. And if there are among you a thousand, they will overcome two thousand by permission of Allah. And Allah is with the steadfast.

(Al-Anfal 8:65, Al-Anfal 8:66)

Al-Muyassar: God has now lightened it for you, believers, because of the weakness among you: if there are a hundred steadfast among you they will overcome two hundred of the disbelievers, and if a thousand, they will overcome two thousand, by God's leave; and God is with the steadfast, with His support and help. Al-Safi: this verse abrogates the one before it; and relays from al-Sadiq: the two men abrogated the ten. Al-Mizan: the gist of the first verse is: let one of you stand firm against ten of the disbelievers; and of the second: God has now lightened His command, so let one of you stand firm against two. Whether lightening belongs only to obligations, as has been said, can be argued; but that the two verses plainly contain two different rulings, one after the other in time and one lighter than the other, admits no doubt.

Where they agree

All three agree that the second verse lightened the first: one now stands against two, where before it was ten.

Where they differ

They differ in what they call it: al-Muyassar speaks of the lightening without calling it abrogation; al-Safi says the second verse abrogates the one before it; al-Mizan says the two verses plainly contain two different rulings, one after the other in time, one lighter than the other.

What the verses do not say

• They do not list or name the abrogated verses.
• They do not present abrogation as a flaw in the speech; they say it brings something better or like it.
• Al-Baqarah 106 does not say whether abrogation is confined to rulings or wider; on this the commentators' wording differs.

Counted on the mushaf

• The root of naskh: four times in four verses, Al-Baqarah 106, Al-A'raf 154, Al-Hajj 52 and Al-Jathiyah 29.
• "We abrogate", in the sense of abrogating a verse: once in the whole Quran.
• "We substitute a verse in place of a verse": once.

Sources

• al-Tafsir al-Muyassar — King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran.
• Tafsir al-Safi — al-Fayd al-Kashani.
• al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Quran — al-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn al-Tabataba'i.

Read:

• What is tafsir, and how is it different from ta'wil?
• The disconnected letters at the start of surahs
• Asbab al-nuzul: what the occasions of revelation are, and why readers need them