abrogation is also without any problem. Scholars have cited the "secret conversa‌ tion" verse as an example of this type of abrogation. We shall discuss it in detail [later in this chapter].
٣. A ruling established by the Quran may be abrogated by another verse that neither
deals with the previous ruling nor provides the basis for its termination. Abroga‌ tion is called for in this case simply because the two ordinances are contradictory. Hence, the later verse is regarded as the abrogator of the earlier one.

It is a fact that this type of abrogation has not occurred in the Quran. How could that be when God says, "Will they not then ponder on the Quran? If it had been from other than God, they would have found therein much incongruity" (Q. ٤:٨٢).
However, many commentators and other scholars have not paid the necessary
attention to the meaning of the verses of the Quran. As a result, they have assumed that a number of verses are inconsistent with each other, and have, as a result, main‌ tained that the later verse abrogates the ruling of the earlier one. Some of them have gone as far as to maintain that an inconsistency exists in cases where one of the two verses is actually a customary context for the explanation of the purport of the other verse (such as the particularization in relation to the general ruling and the restric‌ tion in relation to the absolute ruling), and have consequently abided by abrogation in these and similar cases. This attitude is rooted either in poor judgment or in a loose application of the word naskh in accordance with its lexical sense. Although naskh in this sense used to be widely accepted before its technical meaning came into usage, one would still be taking excessive liberty if one were to apply it in its generic sense after the technical sense had become established.

Discussion of the Verses that Are Claimed to Have Been Abrogated

At any rate, it is still necessary to examine the verses that are said to have been abro‌ gated. We shall treat those cases of them where there is some ambiguity over whether they are abrogated or not. As for those instances in which the absence of abrogation is evident in accordance with what has been said so far, we shall not treat them here, but shall deal with them when we comment on the verses later in this book.
We shall treat the verses [said to have been abrogated] in accordance with their order in the Quran.

(١) Many of the people of the Book long to make you disbelievers after your belief, through envy on their own account, after the truth has become manifest to them, Forgive and be indulgent [toward them] until God give[s] His command. Lo, God is able to do all things. (Q. ٢:١٠٩)

According to Ibn Abbas, Qatada, and al-Suddi, this verse was abrogated by the sword verse. This opinion has been adopted by Jafar at-Nal:ll:tas.٣ The sword verse is the one in which God, the Exalted, says, "Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day [of Judgment], and do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden-such men as practice not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book‌
until they pay the tribute (jizya) out of hand and have been humbled" (Q. ٩:٢٩).