In the Name of Allah,
the Beneficent, the Merciful
THE ISSUE
OF “ABROGATION” – A MISCONCEPTION
[Shamim A
Siddiqi,
In the opinion of various Muslim Ulama not a
single verse in the existing Qur'an stands abrogated by any other Ayah as
it was claimed by some old scholars and lately being promoted by some liberal
intellectuals of the Ummah. It is a misconception of our scholars who without
giving proper thinking to paramount basic concepts of Islamic Shariah accepted
a wrong connotation that contradicts the spirit of Islam as a Deen. Allah has
perfected the Deen of Islam as the Ayah 3 of Al-Maida connotes:
“This day Have I perfected your Deen for you and
completed My favor unto you and have chosen for you Islam as your Deen” [Al-Maida:
3]
Not
only this verse should cancel all the thoughts about abrogation but Allah has
further ordained in verse # 42 of Ha’Mim Al-Sajdah that nothing can enter into
the Qur’an and nothing can be added to it from outside:
“Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or
from behind it. It is a revelation from the Wise, the Owner of Praise.”
[Qur’an. 41: 42]
It
proves beyond any shadow of doubt that Qur’an is perfect and complete in every
respect as the Book of guidance for mankind for all times to come and nothing
is abrogated therein or changeable with the change of time.
The basic concepts that determine the
application of Islamic Shariah, covering the entire needs and urgencies of man
for all times are as follows:
1. Principal of gradual application of the Qur’anic laws in a society
that was full of ignorance and Jahiliyah at different levels. If the laws are
applied all at a time, human nature may abhor and revolt against it. The laws
prohibiting drinking were applied in three stages First it was announced that
harms in drinking are more than benefits. Then it was ordained that don’t go
near Salah when you are intoxicated. Then in Verse 90of Surah Al-Maida it was
totally prohibited that “don’t go near it”.
All the relevant verses are there present in the Qur’an, None abrogates
the other. All will serve their purpose in building an Islamic state afresh as
and when Muslims get the chance to do so anywhere in the world.
2.
Principal or re-implementation: When the Islamic State is established anytime
at any place in this world, many laws of Shariah would need gradual implementation
and application. Allah’s Deen no where is in a dominant position? If tomorrow
Muslims succeed in getting a place to run its affairs in terms of the Qur’an
and Sunnah, the laws of Shariah will be implemented in a gradual process taking
full care of people’s habits, customs and economic necessities for some time to
get them adjusted with the laws of Islam while putting aside the prevalent
customs and laws of old Jahiliyah.
3.
Consideration of human habits, deep rooted customs and economic laws that are integrated in
the economic system of time like slavery, interest [Reba] etc. They all will be
replaced by Islamic laws in a gradual process. Reba was prohibited in ninth
year of Hijrah Slavery was continued as an integral part of the economic system
and was dissolved or eliminated in
stages as it was the part of economic system of the time. Islam improved it so
much so that Omar (RA) said: had the salve of Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah (RA) been
alive I would have made him Khalifah of Muslims after me. To what a great
position the salves were raised. Omar (RA) used to call Belal (RA) as “Sayedna Belal.”
Every verse of the Qur’an will tell the Da’ee to
implement it to meet the situation that would warrant it. That is why all the
verses revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S) have been left intact in their original
form in the Qur'an and will remain there till Qayamah.
In fact the concept of abrogation was introduced
by Imam Zuhri to suit the convenience of his time that was full of trouble,
chaos and disruption in Ummah. Later on it was advocated by Sir Sayyed Ahmad
Khan of
If you apply the so-called abrogated Ayah on the
three principles that I have mentioned above, you will get the truth of what I
am asserting with full confidence that there is no abrogation in the Qur'an at
all. We will need each of these Ayah if we today try to establish the Deen of
Allah afresh in the body politics of our societies. The Muslim scholars
are not doing the job of Iqamatuddeen. They are allergic to it and are busy now
in abrogating more than five hundred verses from the Qur'an. They are lost and
want that Ummah too should also be lost.
Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi of
Before I conclude I would like to add the
following comments of Mohtram Dr. Omar Afzal made on this issue and it is worth
reading.
“Muhadditheen went on 'abrogation spree' in their zeal to standardize and support rules for various Fiqh positions. Later Mufassirin blindly accepted their hypothesis as they found the Aayah: “Ma Nansakh” [Al-Baqarah 106] they never thought where their foolhardy is leading to: Is human thinking process authorized to cancel parts of Allah's final words? How can Muslim support their claim of finality and universality of Allah's guidance if they accept that certain parts of this guidance [the Qur’an] were “Mansukh [abrogated]? The worst scenario is that one part of the Qur'an was Mansukh [abrogated] by other part”
If it is accepted then what remains thereto for implementation? The greatest tragedy of this mishap is this that it is based on “Khabar-Wahaid” Once Hazrat Ali (RA) saw a person giving a sermon in Kufa. He asked: does this man know about Nasikh wa Mansukh? If not, he should not give religious sermons. This saying of Ali (RA) had become the basis of Nasakh
"Fataberu
ya Ulul Absar"
Shamim A Siddiqi
Website: WWW.dawahinamericas.com
March 12, 2005