Abrogation

Submitted by Doug (United States), Mar 8, 2011 at 17:34

Yaweeka, I would like to add to your comments on abrogation.

The rise of abrogation began during the life of Muhammad, when changed the direction of the prayers from Jerusalem to Mecca. This caused an uproar within the young Islamic community, causing them to question the religion. The revelation given by Muhammad was that this was a test of their faith (paraphrased).

Real abrogation began once the Quran was put down in writing and scholars of the day began to study it. They quickly found strong contradictions within the text, which you have pointed out and had to come up with a solution. Using the aforementioned abrogation during the life of Muhammad, they instituted the concept within Islam of abrogation. The problem also arose on how to understand the Quram properly, since there is no chronological order, or timeline. This gave rise to the Hadith, about 250-300 years after the death of Muhammad. This is the reason why they most must be studied in conjunction to fully understand Quram. This has also raised other issues, due to contradictions between the Hadith and the Quram, which is still being debated today.

Since then, how abrogation is applied has gone through some different interpretations. With some saying that abrogation can only happen for text within one of the three houses e.g. conduct of Muslim, rule, and war. Most modern scholars, today reject abrogation all together, for obvious reasons. Of course none of the radical Islamic groups accept this, and only apply the original interpretation.

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