Does the Sunnah abrogate the Qur'an? And what is the stronger position with evidence?
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The questioner : Does the Sunnah abrogate the Qur'an or not? What is the stronger position, and what is the evidence?
The Shaykh : In our view, there is no difference between the Sunnah abrogating the Qur'an or the Qur'an abrogating the Sunnah; because both of them, or each of them, issue from a single source, which is revelation. So the claim that the Qur'an is not abrogated by the Sunnah, if it is based on a specific piece of evidence, then no such evidence exists. And if it is based on the non-existence of such cases for some people, that does not mean it is not permissible. In fact, I feel that there are some rulings that cannot be understood except as having abrogated something from the Qur'an. Perhaps I can recall some examples, although I want to mention an important issue regarding this question, because many scholars, both in the past and especially recently, disapprove of the statement that the Qur'an is abrogated by the Sunnah, even though they are actually doing the same thing, whether they like it or not. It is well known that the Salaf used abrogation in the broader, more comprehensive linguistic sense, which the later scholars agreed to call specification. They all agree on the permissibility of specifying the generality of the Qur'an by a verse.
The questioner : By a hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes, the generality of the Qur'an by a hadith. Yes, they agree on the permissibility of specifying the generality of the Qur'an by a hadith, knowing that specification means abrogation. But the difference between this abrogation, which the later scholars called specification, is that it does not abrogate the entire Qur'anic text, but rather abrogates a part of it. So what is the difference between a hadith abrogating a part of a Qur'anic text or a hadith abrogating a Qur'anic text? In both cases, the hadith is a ruling. If we want to use an expression that may not be very appropriate, we could say that the hadith exercised authority over the generality of the Qur'an and specified it, and the hadith exercised authority over a Qur'anic text and abrogated it. There is no difference between the two matters except in a formal sense.
The Shaykh : In our view, there is no difference between the Sunnah abrogating the Qur'an or the Qur'an abrogating the Sunnah; because both of them, or each of them, issue from a single source, which is revelation. So the claim that the Qur'an is not abrogated by the Sunnah, if it is based on a specific piece of evidence, then no such evidence exists. And if it is based on the non-existence of such cases for some people, that does not mean it is not permissible. In fact, I feel that there are some rulings that cannot be understood except as having abrogated something from the Qur'an. Perhaps I can recall some examples, although I want to mention an important issue regarding this question, because many scholars, both in the past and especially recently, disapprove of the statement that the Qur'an is abrogated by the Sunnah, even though they are actually doing the same thing, whether they like it or not. It is well known that the Salaf used abrogation in the broader, more comprehensive linguistic sense, which the later scholars agreed to call specification. They all agree on the permissibility of specifying the generality of the Qur'an by a verse.
The questioner : By a hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes, the generality of the Qur'an by a hadith. Yes, they agree on the permissibility of specifying the generality of the Qur'an by a hadith, knowing that specification means abrogation. But the difference between this abrogation, which the later scholars called specification, is that it does not abrogate the entire Qur'anic text, but rather abrogates a part of it. So what is the difference between a hadith abrogating a part of a Qur'anic text or a hadith abrogating a Qur'anic text? In both cases, the hadith is a ruling. If we want to use an expression that may not be very appropriate, we could say that the hadith exercised authority over the generality of the Qur'an and specified it, and the hadith exercised authority over a Qur'anic text and abrogated it. There is no difference between the two matters except in a formal sense.
Source
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