نسخ
Naskh
Abrogation: the replacing of one ruling by a later one, as God wills.
What it means
The Quran says that whatever verse God abrogates or causes to be forgotten, He brings one better or similar (2:106). Muslims point to clear cases: the prayer direction changed from Jerusalem to Mecca (2:142–150), and the prohibition of wine came in stages (4:43, then 5:90–91).
The term is mainly about rulings of law. Later scholars cut the number of cases drastically: al-Suyuti kept about twenty, and Shah Waliullah five. Some, such as Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, denied abrogation within the Quran altogether.
Often misunderstood as
That Muhammad cancelled the peaceful verses with violent ones, so Islam is violent.
What the sources say
Some early exegetes made sweeping claims that one verse cancelled many. Many scholars rejected this, and the principles the Quran repeats are not treated as cancelled: no compulsion in religion (2:256), kindness and justice to those who have not fought you over your religion (60:8), and the command to deal fairly even with those one dislikes (5:8).