I╒ k┐ m and Naskh in View of Im┐ m Nuh┐ s, Makk┘ and Ibn Jawz┘ : A Bequest to Parents and Relatives (A Case Study)

Naskh, in Arabic, means lifting and removing. In Islamic terminology, it means lifting a ruling indicated by a shar‘┘ text on the basis of evidence. The Qur'┐ n says: "None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We substitute something better or similar; knowest thou not that Allah hath power over all things?". 1 According to some Muslim commentators, more than 500 verses of the Qur'┐ n have been abrogated. Others concede only 5 verses while others deny there is any abrogation. This difference of opinion is because the Ulam┐ ’ of early period of Islam of Islam have used the word: Naskh in a general and comprehensive sense which includes the total repeal of an injunction as well as a partial change in an injunction with the addition of certain conditions, provisions or exceptions. That is why, the Ulam┐ ’of the earlier period have indicated some five hundred verses of the Qur'┐ n which, in their opinion, have been abrogated. But, according to the Ulam┐ ’ of a later period, only that change is to be called a Naskh which cannot in any way be brought into consonance with an earlier injunction. Obviously, this approach greatly reduces the number of abrogated verses. For example, there are only twenty such verses according to al-Suy┴ t┘ . Later on, Sh┐ h Wal┘ yyullah, seeking to bring the abrogated injunction in consonance with the earlier injunctions, reduced the number of abrogated verses to only five. This article presents views of Exigists regarding the Ayah of Will, which is also abrogated in accordinance with the consensus of Ummah, clarifiying the subject according to the above mentioned difference in the meanings of Naskh among the Ulam┐ ’ of early and later period of Islam.