Is Islam Cool with Me?: The Law of Abrogation

 Freedom of Speech - Norman Rockwell

Scott Sturman

Is Islam cool with me?  I mean, is it the Religion of Peace or am I hosed, because I don’t see things quite that way?
---W.R. Priskna

Mr. Priskna echoes many of the concerns of Westerners.  One one hand he hears the religion is all accepting and benevolent, while on the other non believers either convert or die.  Which of these two diametrically opposed views are true?  Understanding the Law of Abrogation helps settle the matter in a logical, clear-minded fashion.

The lessons of the Qur’an, listed in its suras or chapters, are contradictory, and for the outsider it is difficult to determine which ones take precedence.  Unlike the Bible which is written chronologically, the Qur’an is ordered by the size of the chapter with the longest first and the shortest last.  The tone and commandments of the suras vary to such an extent that at times it seems implausible they are part of the same book.

The Qur’an by definition is perfect in all respects, since all of its suras are the product of Mohammed’s divine and direct revelation from Allah.  The dilemma of conflicting messages, which must be all correct, is impossible to resolve and requires Muslim scholars to invoke the Law of Abrogation.  Abrogation is the process by which one sura takes precedence over another, and for the most part suras which were written later supersede earlier ones.

Among the believers it is heretical to suppose Muhammed matched the suras to correlate with his power at the time they were revealed.  All of the suras are the word of Allah, so his only Prophet simply relayed the message to the faithful.  Nevertheless, Western scholars make the following observations:  When Mohammed lived in Mecca from 610 - 622 A.D., he had few followers and was politically and militarily weak.  Suras from this period of Islam were conciliatory and inclined to compromise.  From 623 - 626 A.D. Mohammed returned to Medina and fought a series of defensive campaigns against old adversaries.  Consequently, the text of the Qur’an takes on a more aggressive posture as Mohammed’s power waxed.  From 626 A.D. until his death in 632 A.D., Mohammed’s armies embarked on vigorous, proselytizing campaigns meant to forcibly subdue all non believers.  Suras generated from this period tend to be written in an aggressive tone consistent with Islam’s growing militancy.

Since the Qur’an’s text does not follow a timeline, the sunna, the rules of life demonstrated by Mohammed, and the hadith, accounts of the Prophet’s life as told by others, are used to mark the time each sura was added to the Qur’an.  Logically, chapters added later to the Qur’an which conflict with earlier entries must abrogate or cancel them.  Otherwise, in order to keep the Qur’an perfect, Allah through his intermediary Mohammed, would not add flawed chapters.  Previous suras which were no longer valid or perfect could be abrogated by newer faultless ones.  These later sublime additions necessarily supersede their progenitors.

The Qur’an and its supportive literature are written is a style which allow clerics to interpret it flexibly, and this interpretation can be adapted to fit the political needs of the Muslim community.  In this regard the Qur’an is used as a taqiyya-like document which means one thing, but according to the mullahs quite another.  Enemies or outsiders are left uncertain as to what is the true meaning and what is not.  Just as Sir Richard Burton used taqiyya to conceal his identity from the Arabs during his 1853 haji to Mecca, religious scholars interpret the Qur’an to dissimulate true intent from non believers. 

Sura 3:20 states “there is no compulsion in religion” and insures non Muslims of Islam’s peaceful intent.  Sura 9:5, either the last or penultimate of Mohammed’s revelations, is the only chapter which does not begin with the incantation, “in the name of God, most benevolent, ever-merciful.”  It abrogates the earlier verses extolling peace, tolerance, and forgiveness and commands the faithful to “slay the idolaters,” to fight the non believer, and establish God’s kingdom on earth.  So which of these two unambiguous but contradictory proclamations takes precedence?  Priority rests with the more perfect of the two–Allah’s sura revealed to Mohammed at a later date.

So there you have it, Mr. Priskna.