A Discussion on the Designation of the Qur’ānic Evidences concerning the Incidence of Abrogation in the Qur’ān and their Referent

علوم قرآن و حدیث

Article 2, Volume 43, Issue 2 - Serial Number 87, February 2012   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/naqhs.v43i2.9003

Author

abbas esmaeelizadeh^*

Abstract

All the verses that the believers in the incidence of abrogation in the Holy Qur’ān’s verses have mentioned as the Qur’ānic evidences consist of four verses; i.e., 106 of Sūrat al-Baqara, 101 of Sūrat al-Naḥl, 39 of Sūrat al-Ra‘d, and 15 of Sūrat al-Yūnus. Irrespective of accepting or rejecting the very incidence of abrogation in the Holy Qur’ān’s verses, which requires a more comprehensive research, the examination of each one of these verses for their literal (sibāqī) and contextual (sīyāqī) comprehension and the collective understanding of the Qur’ān, indicates that these verses do not have any allusion to the incidence of abrogation in verses of the Qur’ān. Rather, the denotation of the first and second verses is the change and transformation of the miracles granted to the Divine Prophets; as it is generally stated in the verse of the Sūrat al-Baqara that God does not
abrogate any miracle of the previous Prophet’s miracles or remove it from the memories over time except that He would grant a better or similar miracle in terms of influence to the next Prophet; and in the second verse, it is asserted that despite the transformation of miracles, the unbelievers would still fail to come to faith. In the third verse, it is stated that God has an ordinance and judgment in every time period that if He wishes He would efface it in another time and confirms another one. The fourth verse is related to the unbelievers’ demands from the Prophet (S.A.W.) for altering the content of the Qur’ān as his miracle or bringing another miracle.

Keywords

abrogation; abrogating; abrogated; Qur’ānic evidences of abrogation