Reconsidering Abrogation in Islam: Retrieving the Knowledge of Revelation

By Leslie Terebessy

The umma is in trauma because it veered from the path of Allah. It drifted from its way of life. The drift was exacerbated by a misrepresentation of revelation, triggered by politics, and buttressed by the repression of reason. The repression of reason or "intellectual suicide." The repression of reason laid the foundations for the emergence of a "tradition of intellectual retardation." The misrepresentation of revelation resulted entailed a misunderstanding of revelation. The misrepresentation of revelation was triggered by the politicization of exegesis and jurisprudence, required by efforts to reinterpret revelation to justify wars aggression. For bellicose rulers wanted to enlarge the empire through wars of aggression or jihad al-talab, portrayed as a "propagation of Islam." The reinterpretation was expedited by recourse to practices and perceptions foreign to the teaching of revelation, for example the teaching of abrogation. The teaching of abrogation asserts that all verses of reconciliation were "abrogated" by the verse of the sword, which purportedly "contradicts" them. The teaching of abrogation is without endorsement in revelation as well as tradition. There is no agreement on which verses are "abrogated." Present-day jurists largely reject the teaching of abrogation as foreign to the teaching of revelation. The reinterpretation of Islam as a religion of war as expedited by recourse to the teaching of abrogation. Regrettably, the reinterpretation emerged as a misrepresentation. For this reinterpretation entails tampering with the teaching of revelation. It requires rendering lawful what Allah prohibited: wars of aggression. The reinterpretation required a politicization of exegesis and jurisprudence. Recourse to abrogation was accompanied by recourse to hawkish traditions. The reorientation from revelation to tradition entailed an epistemological reorientation, from a revelation-centric to a tradition-centric epistemological paradigm. The reorientation was justified by recourse to unwarranted perceptions, for example that tradition, too, is revelation. This perception was justified by a problematic rendering of verses 53:3-4 in the Book of Allah and by recourse to a tradition in which the prophet purportedly asserted that he was "given two things, the Book of Allah and its equal (the traditions)." The "religion of war" requires participation in yearly wars or jihad al-talab, treating them as a sixth pillar of Islam. The requirement to fight non-Muslims every year, even when they refrained from waging war against Muslims, ensnared the umma into unprovoked wars of aggression which ended in disaster. Muslims were defeated by Charles Martel in France in 732, the Abbasids were destroyed by the Mongols in 1258, and the Ottomans were defeated at the gates of Vienna in 1529 and 1683. For "Allah does not love aggressors." The teaching of abrogation rejects verses which teach that we will never find an alteration in the words of Allah. It assumes that Allah "changed" His words, after informing us that we will never find any change in His words. Moreover the Book teaches that it is "the truth from your Lord." The teaching of abrogation also rejects verses that teach that revelation is "the truth from your Lord." To contradict the perception that the Book is "free from contradictions" is to reject all verses that teach the contrary. It is treat the Book as less than truthful. This is impertinent. How could there be "contradictions" in a Book authored by the Wise and Knowledgeable? The perception of contradictions stems from reading the Book without engaging reason. After all, traditionists assert that the use of reason to understand revelation is kufr. The teaching of abrogation expects us to reject all verses "abrogated" by verses revealed afterwards. But to reject a verse is to fall into kufr. As a result, the teaching of abrogation requires persons that endorse it to perpetrate kufr.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B094TGS26N
• ISBN13: 9798503416244
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"