Recognition of Naskh: Four Sharʿi Methods and Examples
Source: Fatāwā Amanpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amanpuri
Question:
How is naskh (abrogation) recognized?
Answer:
❀ ʿAllāmah Ibn ʿAṭiyyah رحمه الله (d. 802H) said:
يعرف النسخ بأربعة أمور؛ بنص الشارع عليه أو بنص صحابي أو بمعرفة التاريخ أو بالإجماع.
Naskh is recognized through four means: (①) a clear text from the Lawgiver, (②) the explicit statement of a Companion, (③) knowledge of historical sequence, or (④) through consensus.
(Al-Shadhā al-Fayyāḥ: 2/462)
Example of Naskh through Consensus:
Sayyidah Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها narrated:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Wahb bin Zamʿah رضي الله عنه and a man from the family of Abū Umayyah:
إن هذا يوم رخص لكم إذا أنتم رميتم الجمرة أن تحلوا يعني من كل ما حرمتم منه إلا النساء، فإذا أمسيتم قبل أن تطوفوا هذا البيت صرتم حرما كهيئتكم قبل أن ترموا الجمرة حتى تطوفوا به.
"Today you are granted concession: once you have stoned the Jamrah, you may become lawful from everything that was forbidden to you, except relations with women. But if evening comes before you have performed Ṭawāf of this House, then you return to being in Ihrām as you were before stoning the Jamrah, until you perform Ṭawāf of it."
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1999, chain Hasan)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī رحمه الله (d. 458H) said:
لا أعلم أحدا من الفقهاء يقول بذلك.
"I do not know of any jurist who has acted upon this ḥadīth."
(Al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 5/136)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī رحمه الله (d. 902H) said:
أجمع العلماء على ترك العمل به.
"The scholars have unanimously agreed to abandon acting upon this narration."
(Fatḥ al-Mughīth: 4/56)
