His saying, the Exalted and Majestic:

﴿Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and the polytheists do not wish that any good should be sent down to you from your Lord. And Allah chooses for His mercy whom He wills. And Allah is the Possessor of great bounty.﴾

﴿Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or one like it. Did you not know that Allah is over all things competent?﴾

The interpretation: And not from the polytheists, and concerning those who disbelieve. Then He clarified their types from the Jews, the Christians, and the idolaters, to clarify in the definite article in "those" that it is not for the covenant, but refers to a specific group.

(p-308) And the meaning of the verse is that what We commanded you to do, to honor your Prophet, is better than the good that Allah has bestowed upon you. And this is not desired by the disbelievers. Then the wording encompasses all good other than this. And "that" with the verb is interpreted as the source, and "from" is extra in the saying of some of them. And since the desire for the descent of good is negated, that stands in place of the denial that must precede the extra according to the saying of Sibawayh and Al-Khalil. As for Al-Akhfash, he permits its addition in the obligatory.

And some said: "From" is for partitive because they want that no good, little or much, should be sent down to the believers. And if the meaning of partitive were removed, it would be permissible for a speaker to say: We want that no complete good should be sent down, nor do we dislike that some should be sent down. So if the desire for the descent of some is negated, that is more likely in the descent of complete good.

And the mercy in this verse is general for all its types that Allah has granted to His servants, both past and present. And some said: The mercy is the Qur'an. And some said: The Prophethood of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. And these are parts of the general mercy that is in the wording of the verse.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten﴾, abrogation in the speech of the Arabs is in two ways: One is transfer, like transferring a book from another, and the second is removal. As for the first, it has no relevance in this verse. It has been mentioned in the Book of Allah, the Exalted, in His saying: ﴿Indeed, We used to record what you used to do.﴾ [Al-Jathiya: 29]. And as for the second, which is removal, it is what is in this verse, and it is divided in language into two types: One affirms the abrogator after the abrogated, like their saying: The sun has abrogated the shadow, and the other does not affirm, like their saying: The wind has abrogated the trace.

(p-309) And abrogation has occurred in the Shari'ah according to these two types. The abrogator in truth is Allah, the Exalted, and the legal address is called abrogating when abrogation occurs by it.

And the definition of the abrogator according to the experts of the People of the Sunnah is the address that indicates the lifting of the established ruling by the preceding address in a way that without it, it would have been established with its delay from it.

And abrogation is permissible for Allah, the Exalted, by reason, because it does not necessitate an impossibility from Him, nor a change of any of His attributes, the Exalted. And the commands are not related to the will, so it does not necessitate that the will has changed by abrogation, nor is abrogation due to the occurrence of knowledge, rather Allah, the Exalted, knows until when His command with the first ruling will end, and He knows its abrogation with the second.

And al-Badaa' is not permissible for Allah, the Most High, because it can only occur due to the emergence of knowledge or a change in will, and that is impossible concerning Allah, the Most High. The Jews made abrogation and al-Badaa' one and the same, and for this reason, they did not permit it and thus went astray.

And the abrogated according to our scholars is the established ruling itself, not what the Mu'tazila claimed, that it is like the established ruling regarding what is to come. What led them to that was their doctrine that commands are intended, and that goodness is an intrinsic quality of beauty, and Allah's intention is good. Evidence has been established that commands are not connected to intention, and that goodness and evil in rulings are from the perspective of the Shari'ah, not from an intrinsic quality.

And the specification from the generality may suggest that it is abrogation, but it is not, because the specified has never been encompassed by the generality at all. If it were definitively established that the generality encompassed something and then that thing was excluded from the generality, it would be abrogation, not specification. And abrogation is not permissible in reports; it is specifically related to commands and prohibitions. Some of the objectors responded to the command as a report by saying: Is it not its meaning: It is obligatory upon you to do such and such? This is a report, and the answer is that it is within the meaning unless I abrogate it from you and remove it. Just as the wording of the command includes that report, it also includes this exception.

And the forms of abrogation differ:

And the heavier may be abrogated to the lighter, like the abrogation of the ruling for ten with the ruling for two.

And the lighter may be abrogated to the heavier, like the abrogation of the Day of Ashura and the numbered days with Ramadan.

And an example may be abrogated by an example of the same weight or lightness, like the kiss.

And something may be abrogated without a replacement, like the charity of private counsel.

And complete abrogation is when both the recitation and the ruling are abrogated, and this is common. Among it is the saying of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him: We used to recite, 'Do not prefer your fathers, for it is disbelief.'

And the recitation may be abrogated without the ruling, like the verse of stoning.

And the ruling may be abrogated without the recitation, like the charity of private counsel, and like His saying, the Most High: 'And if something of your wives has gone to the disbelievers and you have avenged, then give to those whose wives have gone what they have spent.' [Al-Mumtahana: 11] And the recitation and the ruling are two rulings, so it is permissible to abrogate one of them without the other. The Qur'an may be abrogated by the Qur'an, and the Sunnah by the Sunnah. And this expression refers to the mutawatir, definitive report, and the report of the singular may be abrogated by the report of the singular. All of this is agreed upon, and the experts among the scholars are of the opinion that the Qur'an is abrogated by the Sunnah. This is found in the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'There is no bequest for an heir.' This is evident in the issues of Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and this was rejected by al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him. The evidence against him is from his saying, the removal of the punishment of stoning for the married person who is to be stoned, for there is no removal for that except by the Sunnah, the action of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him.

Similarly, the skilled scholars among the imams hold that the Sunnah is abrogated by the Qur'an. This is present in the qiblah, for the prayer towards Sham was never in the Book of Allah. In His saying, "So do not return them to the disbelievers" [Al-Mumtahanah: 10], the returning of them was only due to the treaty of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, with Quraysh.

The skilled scholars permit the abrogation of the Qur'an by the report of a single narrator logically. They differ on whether it occurred legally. Abu al-Ma'ali and others went to the occurrence of it in the incident of the Mosque of Quba, in the turning towards the qiblah, while some people rejected this.

It is not correct to abrogate a text by analogy, as one of the conditions of analogy is that it must not contradict a text. All of this is during the lifetime of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. As for after his death and the establishment of the law, the community has agreed that there is no abrogation. For this reason, consensus does not abrogate nor is it abrogated, because it is only established after the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. If we find a consensus that contradicts a text, we know that the consensus is based on a text of abrogation that we do not know.

Some of the theologians said: The established abrogation is confirmed in the case of everyone, whether he knows the abrogating text or does not know it. What the skilled scholars hold is that whoever has not received the abrogating text is to act according to the first ruling. When the abrogating text reaches him, the ruling of abrogation applies to him. The skilled scholars also permit the abrogation of the ruling before its action, and this is present in the Book of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, in the story of the sacrificial animal.

The majority of the people read: "What We abrogate" with a فتح (fatha) on the نون (noon), from نَسَخَ (nasakha). A group read: "We abrogate" with a ضم (dhamma) on the نون, from أنْسَخَ (ansakha), and this is how Ibn 'Amir read alone from the seven.

Abu Ali al-Farisi said: It is not a language because it is not said: نُسِخَ (nusikha) and أنْسَخَ (ansakha) with the same meaning, nor is it for transitivity, as the meaning comes: What We write from a verse, meaning what We reveal, and the entire Qur'an comes in this as abrogated, and the matter is not so. So there remains only that the meaning is: What We find abrogated, as you say: You praised the man and found him praiseworthy or miserly. Abu Ali said: And we do not find it abrogated except by our abrogating it, so both readings agree in meaning, even if they differ in wording.

Judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The interpretation of this reading has been derived in two ways: One of them is that the meaning is: What We write and reveal from the preserved tablet, or what We delay in it and leave, so we do not reveal it, meaning that this is our action, for we bring better than what is delayed or left, so the two pronouns in "from it" or "like it" return to the pronoun in "We abrogate it."

(p-313) And the other meaning is that we may take 'nansakh' from 'nasakh' in the sense of removal. The estimation is: what we 'nansakh' means we permit you to remove it. It is as if when Allah removed it, He permitted His Prophet to leave it by that removal. Thus, He named that permission 'insakh.' And 'ma' is conditional, and it is the object of 'nansakh.' And 'nansakh' is made conditional. The readers differed in the recitation of His saying: 'nunsihā.' Nafi', Hamzah, al-Kisai, Asim, Ibn 'Amir, and a majority of the people read 'nansihā' with the first noon being pronounced and the second being silent, with a kasrah on the seen, and leaving the hamzah. This is from 'ansa' which is derived from 'nasiya.' A group read it as previously mentioned except that they hamzated after the seen. This has the meaning of delay. The Arabs say: 'ansā'tu al-dayn' and others, meaning I delayed it. A group read: 'aw nansahā' with the first noon being open, the second being silent, and the seen being open. This has the meaning of leaving. Al-Makki mentioned it but did not attribute it, and Abu 'Ubaid al-Bakri mentioned it in his book 'al-Lālī' from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and I see it as an error. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas read 'aw tansahā' with a 'taa' addressing the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and a silent noon after it, and an open seen. Thus said Abu al-Fath and Abu 'Amr al-Dani. It was said to Sa'd: Indeed, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib reads it with the first noon being pronounced and the seen being broken. He said: The Qur'an was not revealed upon al-Musayyib nor upon the family of al-Musayyib, and he recited: 'We will certainly make you recite, so you will not forget' [al-A'la: 6], 'And remember your Lord when you forget' [al-Kahf: 24].

And Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib read - as mentioned about him also - 'aw tunasāhā' with a pronounced 'taa' first and an open seen and a silent noon between them. This is from 'nisyān.' Al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim and Abu Rajā' read 'nunasihā' with the first noon being pronounced and the second open, and a broken and doubled seen. This is also from 'nisyān.' Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, 'Atā ibn Abi Rabah, Mujahid, 'Ubaid ibn 'Umayr, Ibn Kathir, and Abu 'Amr read 'nansā' with an open noon and another silent after it, and an open seen and an alif after it that is hamzated. This is from delay. The Arabs say: 'nasā'tu al-ibil 'an al-hawd' meaning I delayed them. And it is also said: 'ansā al-ibil' if it increases in its thirst for a day or two or more than that, meaning I delayed it from the watering.

(p-314) And a group read similarly to this recitation except that they began with an open 'taa' addressing the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and attributing the action to him. Abu Haywah read similarly except that he pronounced the 'taa' first. Ubayy ibn Ka'b read 'aw nunsik' with the first noon being pronounced, the second silent, and a broken seen with a 'kaf' addressing him. In the mushaf of Salim, the freedman of Abu Hudhayfah, it is 'aw nunsikah' similar to the recitation of Ubayy except that he added the pronoun of the verse. Al-Amash read: 'What we do not cause you to forget of an ayah or we remove it, we bring a similar to it.' And thus it was established in the mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: These readings do not lack that each one of them may be from [the concept of] delay or [the concept of] forgetfulness. Forgetfulness in the speech of the Arabs generally comes as the opposite of remembrance. It may also come with the meaning of abandonment. The three meanings are applicable to these readings. What is related to the wording of forgetfulness, which is the opposite of remembrance, means by the verse: What We abrogate of a verse or We may consider your forgetfulness of it so that you forget it until it is completely lifted and goes away. Then We bring forth what is better than it for you or like it in benefit. As for what is among these readings that is understood in the meaning of abandonment, then the verse with it entails four meanings: The first is: What We abrogate - in various forms of abrogation - or We abandon that which is not revealed to you, for We must reveal - out of kindness to you - something better than that or like it, so that religion does not fall short of its perfection. The second meaning: Or We abandon its recitation - even if We have raised its ruling - then abrogation here refers to the lifting of the recitation and the ruling. The third meaning: Or We abandon its ruling - even if We have raised its recitation - then abrogation also refers to the lifting of the recitation and the ruling. The fourth meaning: Or We abandon it while its ruling and recitation are not abrogated, then abrogation in this meaning is in all its forms. The two pronouns in 'from it' or 'like it' refer only to the abrogated one, as if the speech is: If We abrogate or keep it, then We bring forth something better than the abrogated one or like it. As for what is among these readings that is understood in the meaning of delay, then the verse with it entails the four meanings that are in abandonment. The first is: What We abrogate or delay its revelation. The second: What We abrogate the complete abrogation or delay its ruling even if We keep its recitation. The third: What We abrogate the complete abrogation or delay its recitation even if We keep its ruling. The fourth: What We abrogate or delay while it is confirmed, we do not abrogate it. The pronouns return as we mentioned in the abandonment. Some of these meanings are stronger than others, but we mentioned all of them because they are possible, and all scholars have stated them, either explicitly or implicitly, so we completed them. Al-Zajjaj said: The reading 'or We cause you to forget' with the 'n' being pronounced and the second letter being silent and the 's' being broken does not direct towards the meaning of abandonment, because it is not said: He forgot in the meaning of abandoned. Abu Ali and others said: That is a valid direction, because it means We make you abandon it. Al-Zajjaj also weakened the idea that the verse be understood in the sense of forgetfulness, which is the opposite of remembrance, and said: This was not for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, nor did he forget any part of the Qur'an. Abu Ali and others said: That is permissible, and it has occurred, and there is no difference between raising the verse by abrogation or by delay. Al-Zajjaj argued with His saying, the Exalted: 'And if We willed, We could take away what We have revealed to you' [Al-Isra: 86], meaning We did not do it. Abu Ali said: We did not take away everything.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Regarding the meaning of the removal of the blessing as He has threatened, and Al-Tabari has narrated the saying from earlier than Al-Zajjaj and responded to it. The correct view in this is that the forgetting of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, of what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, intended for him to forget - and He did not intend to affirm a Qur'an - is permissible.

As for the forgetting that is a defect in humans, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is protected from it before the conveying and after the conveying as long as no one from his companions has preserved it. As for after it has been preserved, what is permissible for him is what is permissible for humans, because he has conveyed and fulfilled the trust. Among them is the hadith: "When he omitted a verse, when he finished the prayer, he said: Is there Ubayy among the people? He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He said: Why did you not remind me? He said: I thought it had been abrogated. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: It has not been abrogated, but I forgot it."

And the word 'khayr' in the verse is a description of preference, and the meaning is: it is more beneficial for you, O people, in the immediate if the abrogating one is lighter, and in the later if it is heavier, and like it if it is equal. And a group said: 'khayr' in the verse is a source, and 'man' is for the beginning of the end.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This saying is troubling for his saying, glorified and exalted is He: "or like it," unless the like is conjoined to the pronoun in 'minha' without repeating the preposition, and that is objectionable.

And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Did you not know that..." Its apparent meaning is questioning, and its meaning is affirmation. And affirmation requires a counterpart like pure questioning. The counterpart here, according to the saying of a group, is "or do you want..." [Al-Baqarah: 108]. And a group said: "or" here is disjunctive, so the counterpart according to their saying is omitted, its estimation being: or did you know? And all of this is on the basis that the intent of addressing the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is the addressing of his nation. As for if he is the only one being addressed, then the counterpart is omitted, nothing else. And both sayings are narrated.

And the meaning of the verse is that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, abrogates what He wills and affirms what He wills, and He does in His rulings what He wills. He is capable of that and of everything. And this is in denial of the Jews regarding abrogations. And His saying: "of everything" has a general meaning that is specific, as long as the ancient attributes do not enter into it by the indication of reason, nor the impossible things, because they are not things. And 'thing' in the speech of the Arabs is the existent, and "capable" is an active participle in the sense of exaggeration from "qadara" with a fatḥah on the 'ayn, "yaqdiru" with a kasrah on it. And among the Arabs, there are those who say: "qadara" with a kasrah on the 'ayn, "yaqdiru" with a fatḥah on it.