ناسخ الحديث ومنسوخه
Nāsikh al-Ḥadīth wa Mansūkhuhu
Topic
The science that studies hadith whose content revokes the meaning of other hadith, or that were themselves revoked by them.
What it means
This science examines pairs of hadith in which a later report has cancelled the ruling of an earlier one. The hadith that revokes is the nāsikh and the one revoked is the mansūkh. The aim is to know which of two apparently conflicting reports from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) applies, so that a ruling is not drawn from a report whose ruling was later withdrawn. Scholars establish the order by the words of the Prophet himself, by the statement of a Companion, or by dating the reports through the events they describe. The topic is linked to the study of how the Prophet’s commands changed over the twenty-three years of his mission.
Often misunderstood as
That differing hadith are simply contradictions, when some are earlier rulings that a later one replaced.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 50, listed as NĀSIKH AL ḤADĪTH WA MANSŪKHUHU. The definition is restated here.