Islam Denounces Terrorism

What is Misunderstood about War in Islam

A Muslim has a Responsibility to Believe in Every Verse of the Qur'an, Without Exception

The reason for this section is to show the false nature of claims made by fanatics who seek to add superstition to Islam and some opponents of Islam, who in turn misuse the unpleasant ideas of those fanatics that some verses of the Qur'an are no longer valid (Surely the Qur'an is beyond that). They cite this verse as supposed evidence for their claims:

Whenever We abrogate an ayat or cause it to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or equal to it. Do you not know that God has power over all things? (Qur'an, 2:106)

Those who twist their tongues against the Qur'an have misinterpreted this verse as evidence to allow them to impose their own superstition. They have foolishly imagined that they can invalidate some verses and even replace them with fabricated hadiths. Some opponents of Islam, on the other hand, maintain that there are verses about the use of intoxicants or war that no longer apply and seek to divide Muslims into those who abide by that and those who do not.

The true interpretation of this verse is as follows;

The Arabic word "ayat" in "Whenever We abrogate an ayat" is singular. The word means sign or miracle when used in this form. When the word "ayat" appears in the singular in the Qur'an, it always means evidence or sign, and that is how it is translated in all other verses. The word "ayat" used to refer to the verses of the Qur'an never appears in singular form in the Qur'an.

The meaning here is therefore not "verses of the Qur'an" but "signs, rules and Sharia" that went before it. According to this verse, some practices and commandments applied by previous communities to whom Divine books were sent down, that is, the Jews and the Christians, but which were forgotten in time, have either been recalled or else abrogated by the Qur'an. A similar or better version has thus been brought forth with the Qur'an.

We also need to concentrate on the words "cause it to be forgotten" in the verse. In order for one commandment to abrogate another, the earlier one has to have been "forgotten." Since the Qur'an has remained unchanged for 1,400 years there can be no question of one verse replacing another. The commandments that fanatics allege have been abrogated have not been forgotten; they are still in the Qur'an. This clearly shows that the abrogation being referred to here is not of one verse by another, but of commandments belonging to earlier communities that have since been forgotten. Commands that have been sent down to earlier societies but "forgotten" have been restored with the Qur'an, with more auspicious or similar versions being sent down to those communities.