What is your opinion of those who say that the wording: (The old man and the old woman, if they commit unlawful sexual intercourse, stone them both as a punishment from Allah) is awkward, and that it is not from the Noble Qur'an?
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The questioner : In "al-Sahihayn," 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), when he said: "A verse was revealed, and we memorized it and understood it," and he clarified that it is regarding the muhsan, a married person, and the signs of zina appear through confession or pregnancy or such. But as for the verse, some scholars said: "The wording—our Shaykh, Ibn Uthaymeen, may Allah preserve him, said: 'The wording has an awkwardness that is not from the wording of the Qur'an.'" I wanted to ask about the authenticity of the wording of the verse itself. As for this verse... the hadith that the wording itself says: it has an awkwardness; the one who memorizes the Qur'an or is accustomed to the Qur'an says: this is not the Qur'an. Second: this objection is answered by saying: if a young married man and an old man who is not muhsan commit zina—an old man who is not muhsan means he is not married and commits zina; does stoning or flogging apply to him? Flogging applies to him. So I wanted to confirm the correctness of the wording of the verse itself?
The Shaykh : The answer regarding the ruling is known, but regarding the taste you referred to by quoting, I say something here on this occasion. There is a difference of opinion on a matter of extreme precision: that the Noble Qur'an is undoubtedly the miraculous speech of the Divine, but they differed on whether it is all uniform in its miraculousness, eloquence, and rhetoric, or whether it varies. What Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in some of his treatises is that the matter varies. This is the first answer. The second answer is from the doubts raised by those who deny abrogation: the abrogation of recitation. They say that holding this view opens a door of doubt regarding the written Qur'an. I say the matter is exactly the opposite. In the narration of the Salaf, and thus those who came after them, where they narrated these narrations with chains of transmission, it indicates that the community did not follow the previous rule I alluded to earlier. And I answer the question of those who employ themselves in some charitable organizations and are given salaries from zakah funds. We said that in Islam, the end does not justify the means. On this occasion, I said earlier: I remind the Salaf and the Khalaf, up to today, of course, those who were knowledgeable, that they did not believe that in Islam the end justifies the means. If the means leads to what is forbidden, it is forbidden. If it leads to consuming people's wealth unjustly, it is invalid, and so on. And the opposite is exactly the opposite. This is a preamble to my saying that these early Salaf, when they narrated verses that we used to recite and then their meaning was abrogated, they narrated everything they knew, even if it opened doubt for some people regarding Islam, the Muslims, and the Book of the Lord of the Worlds. Why? Because they did not have the rule that the end justifies the means. No, we do not narrate it. It is the Qur'an, preserved between the two covers of the mushaf. So we do not answer with doubts against ourselves. No, their narration of such verses, which are known among scholars as abrogated in recitation, is proof that the community was narrating hadith free from any consideration of the future, lest this open a door for us that we are now closing. No, it is obligatory to narrate what happened exactly as it happened. This is first.
Second: Since this verse was abrogated, it is not covered by His saying (Exalted is He):[Al-Hijr 15:9]. And this is the answer to the problem I raised earlier. Because the care of Muslims in preserving the Qur'an... they permitted narrating hadith by meaning, but it is not permissible for a Muslim to say: Allah (Exalted is He) said in the Noble Qur'an, meaning... Either he memorizes it and recites it as it was revealed and as it was recorded in the Qur'an in the noble mushaf, or he says, by Allah, I am not recalling it, as you sometimes see me, but I remember that in the Qur'an there is what indicates such and such. So they distinguished between narrating hadith by meaning, which is permissible, and the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an by the saying of the Lord of the Worlds: [Al-Hijr 15:9]. Accordingly, if a hadith abrogated in recitation comes to us, and one does not feel its sweetness and pleasantness— a verse abrogated in recitation, what did I say?
The questioner : A hadith.
The Shaykh : Ah, a hadith.
So if a verse abrogated in recitation comes to us, and none of the distinguished scholars felt its sweetness and pleasantness, this is not a doubt in the correctness of the narration. But it is possible that the narration was narrated by meaning, because it ceased to be Qur'an that is recited. The answer is clear.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : The answer regarding the ruling is known, but regarding the taste you referred to by quoting, I say something here on this occasion. There is a difference of opinion on a matter of extreme precision: that the Noble Qur'an is undoubtedly the miraculous speech of the Divine, but they differed on whether it is all uniform in its miraculousness, eloquence, and rhetoric, or whether it varies. What Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in some of his treatises is that the matter varies. This is the first answer. The second answer is from the doubts raised by those who deny abrogation: the abrogation of recitation. They say that holding this view opens a door of doubt regarding the written Qur'an. I say the matter is exactly the opposite. In the narration of the Salaf, and thus those who came after them, where they narrated these narrations with chains of transmission, it indicates that the community did not follow the previous rule I alluded to earlier. And I answer the question of those who employ themselves in some charitable organizations and are given salaries from zakah funds. We said that in Islam, the end does not justify the means. On this occasion, I said earlier: I remind the Salaf and the Khalaf, up to today, of course, those who were knowledgeable, that they did not believe that in Islam the end justifies the means. If the means leads to what is forbidden, it is forbidden. If it leads to consuming people's wealth unjustly, it is invalid, and so on. And the opposite is exactly the opposite. This is a preamble to my saying that these early Salaf, when they narrated verses that we used to recite and then their meaning was abrogated, they narrated everything they knew, even if it opened doubt for some people regarding Islam, the Muslims, and the Book of the Lord of the Worlds. Why? Because they did not have the rule that the end justifies the means. No, we do not narrate it. It is the Qur'an, preserved between the two covers of the mushaf. So we do not answer with doubts against ourselves. No, their narration of such verses, which are known among scholars as abrogated in recitation, is proof that the community was narrating hadith free from any consideration of the future, lest this open a door for us that we are now closing. No, it is obligatory to narrate what happened exactly as it happened. This is first.
Second: Since this verse was abrogated, it is not covered by His saying (Exalted is He):
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَIndeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَThe questioner : A hadith.
The Shaykh : Ah, a hadith.
So if a verse abrogated in recitation comes to us, and none of the distinguished scholars felt its sweetness and pleasantness, this is not a doubt in the correctness of the narration. But it is possible that the narration was narrated by meaning, because it ceased to be Qur'an that is recited. The answer is clear.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.