ABSTRACT
Abrogation (naskh) is the process through which specifi c revelations are replaced by others. Abrogation can apply to entire revelations-for instance, the Qur’an both corrects and perfects earlier scripturesor to particular sections of one revelation, where one verse or set of verses replaces another. Though increasingly controversial in modern Muslim thought, due in part to a defensive stance on the origins of the Qur’anic text, abrogation in this latter sense was widely accepted by premodern Sunni exegetes, and became an important hermeneutical tool for jurists as they formulated rulings. Shi‘i scholars in general have been less inclined to accept it, using other interpretive techniques to reconcile divergent passages; the traditionally trained Shi‘i scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Khu’i (d. 1992) rejected abrogation altogether. Even among those who agreed as to the existence of abrogation, disagreements persisted as to which were the abrogated verses (mansukh) and which were abrogating (nasikh).
