Ayat al-sayf and abrogation

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jul 3, 2013 at 10:58

Dr. Pipes you wrote

why can't abrogation be used to reform Islam?

well there is a problem here as you know the ulama that established the chronology of the suras in the Qur'an decided that the last revealed sura is sura number 9 or surat al-Tauba and this is how al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh works (I'm talking here about what we have in the Qur'an) that later revelations abrogate earlier revelations in same subject matter which means that ayat al-sayf would abrogate the la ikrah fi al-deen (the no compulsion) and the Meccan lakum deenakum wa leya deeni (or to you your religion and to me my religion) and it does not work any other way so you are proposing the impossible

Even the ulama early on realized that the likes of the no compulsion verse poses a logical problem as how can Muslims and Islam the true religion be tolerant of kuffar and polytheists? and the answer was as usual to provide us with qissas (stories) that explain this disaster and this is why in the case of the no compulsion verse they tell us it was a particular situation where we are told the Jews of Medina adopted Muslim orphans and when the Jews were expelled from Medina Muhammad was asked what to do with these children and this is when the verse was revelead to him which means that this "no compulsion" is not universal

So we really have a problem and ayat al-sayf is what Islam becomes all about

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