Abrogation in the Qur’an, and the order of its soorahs and verses

Firstly: 

Naskh
(abrogation) in Arabic means lifting and removing. In Islamic terminology it
means lifting a ruling indicated by a shar‘i text, on the basis of evidence
from the Qur’an or Sunnah. 

The concept of abrogation
is based on the Qur’an and Sunnah, and on the consensus (ijmaa‘) of Ahl
as-Sunnah, and there is great wisdom behind it. In most cases the abrogation
was for the purpose of making things easier for the Muslims or increasing
the rewards. 

Allah, may He be exalted,
said (interpretation of the meaning):

“Whatever
a Verse (revelation) do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a
better one or similar to it. Know you not that Allah is able to do all
things?

Know
you not that it is Allah to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the
earth? And besides Allah you have neither any Walee (protector or guardian)
nor any helper.”

[al-Baqarah 2:106-107]. 

Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan
as-Sa‘di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Naskh
(abrogation) means moving; thus the meaning of abrogation is moving those
who are accountable from one prescribed ruling to another, or waiving the
ruling. The Jews used to condemn abrogation and claim that it was not
permissible, even though it was referred to in the Torah; thus their
rejection of it constituted disbelief and was based on pure whims and
desires. 

Allah, may He be exalted,
has told us of His wisdom in abrogation, and that whenever He abrogates any
verse “or cause[s] [it] to be
forgotten” i.e., causes people to forget it
and removes it from their hearts

“We
bring a better one” that is more beneficial
for you

“or
similar to it.” 

This indicates that the
abrogation will not be less beneficial to you than the original ruling,
because Allah’s bounty always increases, especially for this ummah, for
which He has made its religion very easy. 

And He tells us that
whoever rejects abrogation has rejected His sovereignty and might, as He
says: “Know you not that Allah
is able to do all things? Know you not that it is Allah to Whom belongs the
dominion of the heavens and the earth?”. 

As He is a Sovereign over
you, controlling your affairs in the manner of the Sovereign Who is Most
Merciful and Most Kind in all His decrees, commands and prohibitions, then
just as there are no limits to whatever Allah wants to decree with regard to
His slaves, so too no one can object to Him for whatever He prescribes to
His slaves of rulings. The slave of Allah is subject to the commands of his
Lord, in terms of both religious commandments and the divine decree (qadar
wa qada’), so what right does he have to object? 

Moreover, He is the
Guardian and supporter of His slaves; thus He guides them to that which will
benefit them and supports them by warding off that which will harm them.
Part of His guardianship of them is that He prescribes rulings for them in
accordance with His wisdom and His mercy towards them. 

The one who ponders the
abrogation that occurred in the Qur’an and Sunnah will come to know thereby
the wisdom of Allah and His mercy towards His slaves, and how He helps them
to attain that which is in their best interests in ways that they do not
realize, by His grace. 

Tafseer as-Sa‘di,
p. 61 

Secondly: 

By learning about the
different types of abrogation, the questioner will find the answer to his
question and more. Abrogation is of different types, which are: 

Abrogation of the verses
and the ruling 

such as the abrogation of
the ten breastfeedings which used to establish the relationship of mahram
between the infant and the woman who breastfed him; both the wording and the
ruling were abrogated. 

Abrogation of the verses
but not the ruling 

such as the abrogation of
the verse which speaks of the five breastfeedings by which the relationship
of mahram is established between the infant and the woman who breastfeeds
him, and the verse which speaks of stoning the adulterer and adulteress. 

Abrogation of the ruling
but not the verses 

Such as the verse,
“And as for those
who can fast with difficulty, (e.g. an old man, etc.), they have (a choice
either to fast or) to feed a Miskeen (poor person) (for every day)”
[al-Baqarah 2:184]; and the abrogation of the
prohibition on fleeing from the battlefield if the enemy is ten times more
numerous than the Muslims or more. Thus the prohibition on fleeing when the
number of the enemy was double that of the Muslims was abrogated. 

Ibn ‘Atiyyah (may Allah
have mercy on him) said: 

Complete abrogation is when
both the verses and the ruling are abrogated, of which there are many
examples. Also, the verses may be abrogated but not the ruling, or the
ruling may be abrogated but not the verses. The verses and the ruling are
two different things; one of them may be abrogated but not the other. 

Al-Muharrar al-Wajeez,
1/131 

Shaykh Muhammad ‘Abd
al-‘Azeem az-Zarqaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The abrogation that
occurred in the Qur’an was of three different types: abrogation of both the
verses and the ruling, abrogation of the ruling but not the verses, and
abrogation of the verses but not the ruling. 

1.    
Abrogation of both the ruling
and the verses 

There is consensus on this
type of abrogation among those Muslims who accept the concept abrogation.
Proof that it occurred is seen in the report from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be
pleased with her) who said: Among
the things that were revealed of the Qur’an was that ten definite
breastfeedings make a person a mahram, then that was abrogated and replaced
with five definite breastfeedings, and the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) passed away when this was among the things that
were still recited of the Qur’an. Narrated by
Muslim, 1452. Although this report is mawqoof and its isnaad ends with
‘Aa’ishah, it is deemed to be marfoo‘ (attributable to the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)) because such a thing could not
be said on the basis of personal opinion; rather such matters must
inevitably have been learned from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him). It is well known that the phrase “ten
definite breastfeedings make a person a mahram”
does not exist in the Mushaf and the ruling mentioned is no longer in
effect. This proves that abrogation of both the verses and the ruling is
something that occurred, and if it is proven that it occurred, then it is
proven that this idea is sound, because proving that is occurred is the
first evidence that it is possible and sound. And the view of those who deny
that the idea of complete abrogation is not possible, such as Abu Muslim
[al-Isfahaani, a Mu‘tazili scholar of usool] and his ilk is proven to be
invalid. 

2.    
Abrogation of the
ruling but not the verses 

this is
indicated in many verses, such as the verse which speaks of giving charity
before speaking to the Messenger, which is the verse in which Allah, may He
be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “O you who believe!
When you (want to) consult the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) in private, spend
something in charity before your private consultation” [al-Mujaadilah 58:12].
This was abrogated by the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning): “Are you afraid of spending in charity
before your private consultation (with him)? If then you do it not, and
Allah has forgiven you, then (at least) perform As-Salat (Iqamat as-Salat)
and give Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger.” [al-Mujaadilah 58:13].
The ruling mentioned in the first verse is abrogated by the ruling mentioned
in the second verse, although both verses remain. 

Another
example is the verse in which Allah, may He be glorified, says
(interpretation of the meaning): “And as for those
who can fast with difficulty, (e.g. an old man, etc.), they have (a choice
either to fast or) to feed a Miskeen (poor person) (for every day)” [al-Baqarah
2:184]. This was abrogated by the verse in
which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“So whoever of you sights (the crescent
on the first night of) the month (of Ramadan i.e. is present at his home),
he must observe Saum (fasts) that month” [al-Baqarah 2:185].
The earlier ruling was abrogated by this later ruling, although both verses
remain, as you can see. 

3.    
Abrogation of the
verses
but not the ruling 

this is
indicated in the saheeh report from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b,
according to which they said: Among the words that were revealed of the
Qur’an were the words, “If an old man and an old woman commit zina, stone
them both.” But we know that this verse no longer exists on the pages of the
Mushaf or of the lips of those who recite the Qur’an, even though the ruling
remains in effect and has not been abrogated. 

It is
also indicated in the saheeh report from Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, according to which
he said: Soorat al-Ahzaab was similar in length to Soorat al-Baqarah or
more. [Narrated by Abu Dawood at-Tayaalisi in his Musnad (no. 540);
‘Abd ar-Razzaaq in al-Musannaf (no. 5990); an-Nasaa’i in as-Sunan
al-Kubra (no. 7150). Its isnaad is saheeh, although this large amount of
verses that was abrogated could not have been devoid of rulings concerning
‘aqeedah (beliefs) that could not be abrogated. 

It is
also indicated by the abrogated verse about breastfeeding mentioned under
the first heading. 

It is
also indicated by what was narrated in a saheeh report from Abu Moosa al-Ash‘ari,
according to which they used to recite a soorah at the time of the Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that was as long as
Soorah Baraa’ah (at-Tawbah), then it was caused to be forgotten except one
verse of it, which is the words: “If the son of Adam were to have two
valleys full of wealth, he would wish for a third, and nothing could fill
the mouth of the son of Adam but dust, and Allah accepts the repentance of
those who repent.”

Narrated
by Ahmad (19280); its isnaad is saheeh and was classed as such by the
editors of al-Musnad.

Manaahil al-‘Irfaan
(1/154, 155) 

Thirdly: 

With
regard to the order in which verses appear, the scholars are unanimously
agreed that the order in which they appear in a single soorah is a tawqeefi
matter (i.e., as determined by Allah and His Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him)), and the matter was not subject to the ijtihaad of the
Sahaabah. 

With
regard to the order in which the soorahs appear, there is a difference of
scholarly opinion concerning this matter. The majority are of the view that
it resulted from the ijtihaad of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with
them), although they that the order of some of those soorahs was determined
at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 

For more
information on these two issues, please see the answer to question no.
3214 

With
regard to the naming of the soorahs, some of them were named by the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and some were named by the
ijtihaad of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them). 

The
scholars of the Standing Committee were asked: 

Is the
one who named the soorahs of the Holy Qur’an the Messenger (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him), or what? 

They
replied: 

We do
not know of any text from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) that indicates that he named all of the soorahs; rather
in some saheeh hadeeths it says that the names of some of them came from the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), such as al-Baqarah and
Aal ‘Imraan. With regard to the other soorahs, it appears that they were
named by the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them). 

Shaykh
‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abdullah
ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Qa ‘ood 

Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah,
4/16 

All of
the above are matters that you will find in books that deal with ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan,
such as al-Itqaan by as-Suyooti, al-Burhaan by az-Zarkashi and
Manaahil al-‘Irfaan by az-Zarqaani 

And
Allah knows best.