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۞ مَا نَنسَخۡ مِنۡ ءَایَةٍ أَوۡ نُنسِهَا نَأۡتِ بِخَیۡرࣲ مِّنۡهَاۤ أَوۡ مِثۡلِهَاۤۗ أَلَمۡ تَعۡلَمۡ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَیۡءࣲ قَدِیرٌ
قالَ اللَّهُ تَعالى: ﴿ما نَنْسَخْ مِن آيَةٍ أوْ نُنْسِها نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنها أوْ مِثْلِها﴾ قالَ قائِلُونَ: " النَّسْخُ هو الإزالَةُ " وقالَ آخَرُونَ: " هو الإبْدالُ " قالَ اللَّهُ تَعالى: ﴿فَيَنْسَخُ اللَّهُ ما يُلْقِي الشَّيْطانُ﴾ [الحج: ٥٢] أيْ يُزِيلُهُ ويُبْطِلُهُ ويُبَدِّلُ مَكانَهُ آياتٍ مُحْكَماتٍ. وقِيلَ: هو النَّقْلُ، مِن قَوْلِهِ: ﴿إنّا كُنّا نَسْتَنْسِخُ ما كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ﴾ [الجاثية: ٢٩]
Allah the Exalted said: {Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one than it or one like it}. Some have said: “Abrogation (al-naskh) is removal.” And others have said: “It is substitution.” Allah the Exalted said: {So Allah abrogates what Satan throws in} [Al-Hajj: 52], meaning He removes it, invalidates it, and substitutes in its place clear verses. And it was said: It is transcription, from His saying: {Indeed, We were having transcribed what you used to do} [Al-Jathiyah: 29].
وهَذا الِاخْتِلافُ إنَّما هو في مَوْضُوعِهِ في أصْلِ اللُّغَةِ، ومَهْما كانَ في أصْلِ اللُّغَةِ مَعْناهُ فَإنَّهُ في إطْلاقِ الشَّرْعِ إنَّما هو بَيانُ مُدَّةِ الحُكْمِ والتِّلاوَةِ، والنَّسْخُ قَدْ يَكُونُ في التِّلاوَةِ مَعَ بَقاءِ الحُكْمِ ويَكُونُ في الحُكْمِ مَعَ بَقاءِ التِّلاوَةِ دُونَ غَيْرِهِ
This disagreement is only regarding its subject matter in the origin of the language, and whatever its meaning may be in the origin of the language, in the usage of the Shar’ (divine law) it is but a clarification of the duration of the ruling and the recitation. And abrogation may occur in the recitation while the ruling remains, and it occurs in the ruling while the recitation remains, and not otherwise.
قالَ أبُو بَكْرٍ: زَعَمَ بَعْضُ المُتَأخِّرِينَ مِن غَيْرِ أهْلِ الفِقْهِ أنَّهُ لا نَسْخَ في شَرِيعَةِ نَبِيِّنا مُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ وأنَّ جَمِيعَ ما ذُكِرَ فِيها مِنَ النَّسْخِ فَإنَّما المُرادُ بِهِ نَسْخُ شَرائِعِ الأنْبِياءِ المُتَقَدِّمِينَ كالسَّبْتِ والصَّلاةِ إلى المَشْرِقِ والمَغْرِبِ؛ قالَ: لِأنَّ نَبِيَّنا ﷺ آخِرُ الأنْبِياءِ وشَرِيعَتَهُ ثابِتَةٌ باقِيَةٌ إلى أنْ تَقُومَ السّاعَةُ.
Abu Bakr said: Some of the later scholars, who were not people of Fiqh, claimed that there is no abrogation in the Sharī’ah of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and that all that is mentioned therein of abrogation, what is meant by it is only the abrogation of the laws of the preceding prophets, such as the Sabbath and the prayer towards the east and the west; he said: because our Prophet ﷺ is the last of the prophets and his Sharī’ah is established and remaining until the Hour is established.
وقَدْ كانَ هَذا الرَّجُلُ ذا حَظٍّ مِنَ البَلاغَةِ وكَثِيرٍ مِن عِلْمِ اللُّغَةِ، غَيْرَ مَحْظُوظٍ مِن عِلْمِ الفِقْهِ وأُصُولِهِ، وكانَ سَلِيمَ الِاعْتِقادِ غَيْرَ مَظْنُونٍ بِهِ غَيْرَ ظاهِرٍ أمْرُهُ؛ ولَكِنَّهُ بَعُدَ مِنَ التَّوْفِيقِ بِإظْهارِ هَذِهِ المَقالَةِ؛ إذْ لَمْ يَسْبِقْهُ إلَيْها أحَدٌ، بَلْ قَدْ عَقَلَتِ الأُمَّةُ سَلَفُها وخَلَفُها مِن دِينِ اللَّهِ وشَرِيعَتِهِ نَسْخَ كَثِيرٍ مِن شَرائِعِهِ ونُقِلَ ذَلِكَ إلَيْنا نَقْلًا لا يَرْتابُونَ بِهِ ولا يُجِيزُونَ فِيهِ التَّأْوِيلَ كَما قَدْ عَقَلَتْ أنَّ في القُرْآنِ عامًّا وخاصًّا ومُحْكَمًا ومُتَشابِهًا، فَكانَ دافِعُ وُجُودِ النَّسْخِ في القُرْآنِ والسَّنَةِ كَدافِعِ خاصِّهِ وعامِّهِ ومُحْكَمِهِ ومُتَشابِهِهِ؛ إذْ كانَ وُرُودُ الجَمِيعِ ونَقْلُهُ عَلى وجْهٍ واحِدٍ فارْتَكَبَ هَذا الرَّجُلُ في الآيِ المَنسُوخَةِ والنّاسِخَةِ وفي أحْكامِها أُمُورًا خَرَجَ بِها عَنْ أقاوِيلِ الأُمَّةِ مَعَ تَعَسُّفِ المَعانِي واسْتِكْراهِها وما أدْرِي ما الَّذِي ألْجَأهُ إلى ذَلِكَ.
This man had a portion of eloquence and much knowledge of language, but was not fortunate in the knowledge of Fiqh and its principles. He was of sound creed, not suspected [of wrongdoing], his affair not being apparent; but he was far from success by manifesting this statement, since no one had preceded him in it. Rather, the Ummah—its predecessors (salaf) and its successors (khalaf)—has understood from the religion of Allah and His Sharī’ah the abrogation of many of its laws. And that was transmitted to us with a transmission they do not doubt, nor do they permit interpretation (ta’wīl) regarding it, just as it has understood that in the Qur’an there is the general (‘āmm) and the specific (khāṣṣ), the clear (muḥkam) and the ambiguous (mutashābih). So the one who rejects the existence of abrogation in the Qur’an and the Sunnah is like the one who rejects its specific and general, its clear and its ambiguous; since the arrival and transmission of all of them were in one and the same manner. So this man, regarding the abrogated and abrogating verses and their rulings, committed matters by which he departed from the sayings of the Ummah, along with forcing the meanings and straining them. And I do not know what compelled him to that.
وأكْثَرُ ظَنِّي فِيهِ أنَّهُ إنَّما أتى بِهِ مِن قِلَّةِ عِلْمِهِ بِنَقْلِ النّاقِلِينَ لِذَلِكَ واسْتِعْمالِ رَأْيِهِ فِيهِ مِن غَيْرِ مَعْرِفَةٍ مِنهُ بِما قَدْ قالَ السَّلَفُ فِيهِ ونَقَلَتْهُ الأُمَّةُ وكانَ مِمَّنْ رُوِيَ فِيهِ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ: «مَن قالَ في القُرْآنِ بِرَأْيِهِ فَأصابَ فَقَدْ أخْطَأ» واللَّهُ يَغْفِرُ لَنا ولَهُ وقَدْ تَكَلَّمْنا في أُصُولِ الفِقْهِ في وُجُوهِ النَّسْخِ وما يَجُوزُ فِيهِ وما لا يَجُوزُ بِما يُغْنِي ويَكْفِي، وأمّا: ﴿أوْ نُنْسِها﴾ قِيلَ إنَّهُ مِنَ النِّسْيانِ، و" نَنْسَأْها " مِنَ التَّأْخِيرِ، يُقالُ: نَسَأْتُ الشَّيْءَ: أخَّرْتُهُ، والنَّسِيئَةُ: الدَّيْنُ المُتَأخِّرُ. ومِنهُ قَوْلُهُ تَعالى: ﴿إنَّما النَّسِيءُ زِيادَةٌ في الكُفْرِ﴾ [التوبة: ٣٧] يَعْنِي تَأْخِيرَ الشُّهُورِ، فَإذا أُرِيدَ بِهِ النِّسْيانُ، فَإنَّما هو أنْ يُنْسِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ تَعالى التِّلاوَةَ حَتّى لا يَقْرَءُوا ذَلِكَ، ويَكُونُ عَلى أحَدِ وجْهَيْنِ: إمّا أنْ يُؤْمَرُوا بِتَرْكِ تِلاوَتِهِ فَيُنْسَوْهُ عَلى الأيّامِ، وجائِزٌ أنْ يَنْسَوْهُ دَفْعَةً ويُرْفَعَ مِن أوْهامِهِمْ، ويَكُونُ ذَلِكَ مُعْجِزَةً لِلنَّبِيِّ ﷺ .
And my strongest assumption about him is that he only came to this due to his lack of knowledge of the transmission of the transmitters regarding that, and his use of his own opinion in it without knowledge of what the Salaf had said about it and what the Ummah had transmitted. And he was among those about whom it is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ: “Whoever speaks about the Qur’an with his own opinion and is correct, he has still erred.” And may Allah forgive us and him. And we have spoken in Uṣūl al-Fiqh about the aspects of abrogation and what is permissible in it and what is not permissible, in a way that is sufficient and adequate. As for: {or We cause it to be forgotten (nunsihā)}, it is said that it is from forgetfulness (al-nisyān). And “nansa’hā” is from postponement (al-ta’khīr). It is said: nasa’tu al-shay’: I postponed it. And al-nasī’ah is a deferred debt. And from it is the saying of the Exalted: {Indeed, the postponement (al-nasī’) is an increase in disbelief} [Al-Tawbah: 37], meaning the postponement of the months. So if what is meant by it is forgetfulness, then it is that Allah the Exalted causes them to forget the recitation so that they do not recite it. And this occurs in one of two ways: either they are commanded to abandon its recitation, so they forget it over the course of days, or it is possible that they forget it all at once and it is lifted from their minds, and that would be a miracle (mu’jizah) for the Prophet ﷺ.
وأمّا مَعْنى قِراءَةِ " أوْ نَنْسَأْها " فَإنَّما هو بِأنْ يُؤَخِّرَها فَلا يُنَزِّلُها ويُنَزِّلُ بَدَلًا مِنها ما يَقُومُ مَقامَها في المَصْلَحَةِ أوْ يَكُونُ أصْلَحَ لِلْعِبادِ مِنها، ويَحْتَمِلُ أنْ يُؤَخِّرَ إنْزالَها إلى وقْتٍ يَأْتِي فَيَأْتِي بَدَلًا مِنها لَوْ أنْزَلَها في الوَقْتِ المُتَقَدِّمِ فَيَقُومَ مَقامَها في المَصْلِحَةِ.
As for the meaning of the reading “or We postpone it (nansa’hā)”, it is that He postpones it and does not reveal it, and reveals in its place that which takes its place in benefit (maṣlaḥah) or is more beneficial for the servants than it. And it could mean that He postpones its revelation to a future time, and brings something in its place that takes its place in benefit, had He revealed it at the preceding time.
وأمّا قَوْلُهُ: ﴿نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنها أوْ مِثْلِها﴾ فَإنَّهُ رُوِيَ عَنْ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ وقَتادَةَ: " بِخَيْرٍ مِنها " لَكم في التَّسْهِيلِ والتَّيْسِيرِ " كالأمْرِ بِأنْ لا يُوَلِّيَ واحِدٌ مِن عَشْرَةٍ في القِتالِ ثُمَّ قالَ: ﴿الآنَ خَفَّفَ اللَّهُ عَنْكُمْ﴾ [الأنفال: ٦٦] أوْ مِثْلِها كالأمْرِ بِالتَّوَجُّهِ إلى الكَعْبَةِ بَعْدَما كانَ إلى بَيْتِ المَقْدِسِ ورُوِيَ عَنِ الحَسَنِ: " بِخَيْرٍ مِنها في الوَقْتِ في كَثْرَةِ الصَّلاحِ أوْ مِثْلِها " . فَحَصَلَ مِنِ اتِّفاقِ الجَمِيعِ أنَّ المُرادَ " خَيْرٌ لَكم إمّا في التَّخْفِيفِ أوْ في المَصْلَحَةِ " ولَمْ يَقُلْ أحَدٌ مِنهم: خَيْرٌ مِنها في التِّلاوَةِ؛ إذْ غَيْرُ جائِزٍ أنْ يُقالَ إنَّ بَعْضَ القُرْآنِ خَيْرٌ مِن بَعْضٍ في مَعْنى التِّلاوَةِ والنَّظْمِ؛ إذْ جَمِيعُهُ مُعْجِزٌ كَلامُ اللَّهِ
As for His saying: {We bring a better one than it or one like it}, it is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas and Qatadah: “‘better than it’ for you in terms of easing and facilitation,” like the command that one should not flee from ten in battle, then He said: {Now Allah has lightened [the burden] for you} [Al-Anfal: 66]. “or one like it,” like the command to turn towards the Ka’bah after it had been towards Bayt al-Maqdis. And it is narrated from al-Hasan: “‘better than it’ at the time in abundance of benefit, or ‘one like it’.” So what is established from the agreement of all is that what is meant is “better for you, either in lightening [the burden] or in benefit (maṣlaḥah).” And not one of them said: better than it in recitation; since it is not permissible to say that some of the Qur’an is better than other parts in the meaning of recitation and composition (naẓm); since all of it is inimitable (mu’jiz), the speech of Allah.
قالَ أبُو بَكْرٍ: وقَدِ احْتَجَّ بَعْضُ النّاسِ في امْتِناعِ جَوازِ نَسْخِ القُرْآنِ بِالسَّنَةِ؛ لِأنَّ السَّنَةَ عَلى أيِّ حالٍ كانَتْ لا تَكُونُ خَيْرًا مِنَ القُرْآنِ وهَذا إغْفالٌ مِن قائِلِهِ مِن وُجُوهٍ:
Abu Bakr said: And some people have argued for the impermissibility of abrogating the Qur’an with the Sunnah; because the Sunnah, in whatever state it may be, cannot be better than the Qur’an. And this is an oversight on the part of its sayer from several aspects:
أحَدُها: أنَّهُ غَيْرُ جائِزٍ أنْ يَكُونَ المُرادُ: " بِخَيْرٍ مِنها في التِّلاوَةِ والنَّظْمِ “؛ لِاسْتِواءِ النّاسِخِ والمَنسُوخِ في إعْجازِ النَّظْمِ والآخِرُ اتِّفاقُ السَّلَفِ عَلى أنَّهُ لَمْ يُرِدِ النَّظْمَ؛ لِأنَّ قَوْلَهم فِيهِ عَلى أحَدِ المَعْنَيَيْنِ إمّا التَّخْفِيفُ أوِ المَصْلَحَةُ.
The first of them: That it is not permissible that what is meant is: “better than it in recitation and composition (naẓm)”; due to the equality of the abrogating and the abrogated in the inimitability of the composition. And the other [reason] is the agreement of the Salaf that He did not intend the composition; because their saying about it is based on one of two meanings: either lightening [the burden] or benefit (maṣlaḥah).
وذَلِكَ قَدْ يَكُونُ بِالسُّنَّةِ كَما يَكُونُ بِالقُرْآنِ ولَمْ يَقُلْ أحَدٌ مِنهم إنَّهُ أرادَ التِّلاوَةَ، فَدَلالَةُ هَذِهِ الآيَةِ عَلى جَوازِ نَسْخِ القُرْآنِ بِالسُّنَّةِ أظْهَرُ مِن دَلالَتِها عَلى امْتِناعِ جَوازِهِ بِها وأيْضًا فَإنَّ حَقِيقَةَ ذَلِكَ إنَّما تَقْتَضِي نَسْخَ التِّلاوَةِ، ولَيْسَ لِلْحُكْمِ في الآيَةِ ذِكْرٌ؛ لِأنَّهُ قالَ تَعالى: ﴿ما نَنْسَخْ مِن آيَةٍ﴾ والآيَةُ إنَّما هي اسْمٌ لِلتِّلاوَةِ، ولَيْسَ في نَسْخِ التِّلاوَةِ ما يُوجِبُ نَسْخَ الحُكْمِ، وإذا كانَ كَذَلِكَ جازَ أنْ يَكُونَ مَعْناهُ: " ما نَنْسَخْ مِن تِلاوَةِ آيَةٍ أوْ نُنْسِها نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِنها لَكم مِن مُحْكَمٍ مِن طَرِيقِ السُّنَّةِ أوْ غَيْرِها " . وقَدِ اسْتَقْصَيْنا القَوْلَ في هَذِهِ المَسْألَةِ في أُصُولِ الفِقْهِ بِما فِيهِ كِفايَةٌ، فَمَن أرادَها فَلْيَطْلُبْها هُناكَ إنْ شاءَ اللَّهُ تَعالى.
And that [lightening or benefit] can be by the Sunnah just as it can be by the Qur’an. And none of them said that He intended the recitation. So the indication of this verse for the permissibility of abrogating the Qur’an with the Sunnah is more apparent than its indication for its impermissibility. Also, the reality of that only necessitates the abrogation of the recitation, and there is no mention of the ruling in the verse; because He the Exalted said: {Whatever verse (āyah) We abrogate}, and the āyah is but a name for the recitation. And there is nothing in the abrogation of the recitation that necessitates the abrogation of the ruling. And if that is the case, it is permissible that its meaning be: “Whatever recitation of a verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring something better than it for you from a clear ruling (muḥkam) by way of the Sunnah or other than it.” And we have exhaustively discussed this issue in Uṣūl al-Fiqh with what is sufficient. So whoever wants it, let him seek it there, if Allah the Exalted wills.
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