Does the Sunnah abrogate the Qur'an?

The questioner : Does the Sunnah abrogate the Qur'an? Because Imam al-Shafi'i says: "The Qur'an abrogates the Qur'an" in "al-Mustadrak"?

The Shaykh : This is the opinion of Imam al-Shafi'i, and others hold that the Sunnah abrogates the Qur'an, and this is the correct view; as I mentioned recently in the lecture there in the mosque; that we do not distinguish between Allah and His Messenger, we do not distinguish between the book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet, rather we carry them together as it came in the hadith that we mentioned - also: In the other narration: , so the Sunnah is an explanation of the Qur'an; the explanation may be abrogation, it may be specification, it may be restriction, and so on, which is known in the principles of jurisprudence. Therefore, we do not see it correct to say in the principles of jurisprudence that the Sunnah does not abrogate the Qur'an; because this arises only from observing the difference between the establishment - take the thread, my brother, yes - but this arises from the establishment of the difference between the establishment of the Qur'an by mass transmission and the establishment of the Sunnah by individual transmission. And we have clarified recently that this distinction does not harm in using the Sunnah as evidence; whether that is - I say now - in abrogation, or in specification, or in restriction, especially since the scholars of the Salaf call specification abrogation, and the majority of Muslim scholars agree on the permissibility of specifying the generality of the Qur'an by the Sunnah. If specification is abrogation in their terminology; then it is the same whether abrogation applies to lifting a part of a general text, or whether specification applies to abrogating a complete part mentioned in a verse of the Qur'an; it is all abrogation. So the phrase remains formal between saying it is permissible to specify the generality of the Qur'an by the hadith or the Sunnah, and saying that it is not permissible to abrogate the Qur'an by the Sunnah. There remains a difference for which we find no justification. This is my opinion on the issue.
Yes.