Response to the contradiction in the Qur’an regarding changing the words of God

 Content of the doubt:

Some sophists imagine that there is a contradiction between the words of Allah the Almighty: “There is no changing the words of Allah” (Yunus: 64), and also the words of Allah the Almighty: “There is no changing His words” (Al-Kahf: 27), and the words of Allah the Almighty: “And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse - and Allah knows best what He sends down - they say, “You are only an inventor” (An-Nahl: 101 ). They ask: How can Allah deny the changing of His words in one place, then approve of this change in another place?! Their aim behind this is to undermine the Holy Quran and challenge its infallibility.

The face of invalidating the doubt:

1) The meaning of (the words of God): His law, His cosmic laws, and His judgment among His creatures.

2) What is meant by “verse” is the Qur’anic verse, not the cosmic verse.

3) What is meant by substitution: is substituting the rulings that were revealed in the verses while maintaining their spelling in the Qur’an.

Details:

In fact, there is not the slightest contradiction between the verses of the Wise Remembrance. If there was such a thing, the polytheists of Mecca, who were the people of eloquence and fluency, would not have kept silent about it for about fourteen hundred years. They were the people of eloquence and fluency, and they would not have waited all this time for someone who had no luck in learning Arabic to come and say that. The matter was not limited to ignorance of the matters of the Arabic language only, but also ignorance of the rules of the correct scientific method. Contradiction only exists between two matters that do not come together and do not rise together. One of them must exist and the other must not exist. The Holy Quran is free from such a contradiction that does not exist except in the minds of the claimants only. In response to this illusion, we say:

First. The meaning of (the words of God): His law, His cosmic laws, and His judgment among creatures:

What is meant by the words of God Almighty: “There is no changing the words of God” (Yunus: 64), and His words, Almighty and Exalted: “There is no changing His words” (Al-Kahf: 27): is that there is no changing the decree of God that He decrees in the affairs of beings, nor is there any change in the cosmic laws that God has established in creation, and no one from His creation will depart from these fixed cosmic laws. This is the consensus of the scholars on the interpretation of this verse, and its meaning also is: there is no breaking of His promise, nor is there any changing of His news, and it will not be except as He said. [1]

 

Secondly, what is meant by “verse” is the Qur’anic verse, not the cosmic verse:

What is meant by the verse in the words of God Almighty: (And when We substitute one verse for another) (An-Nahl: 101) is the Qur’anic verse and not the cosmic Sunnah. Imam Al-Tabari says in his interpretation: “And when We abrogate the ruling of a verse and substitute another ruling in its place - and God knows best what is best for His creation in what He substitutes and changes of His rulings - the polytheists say: You, O Muhammad, are only a slanderer, meaning: a liar who fabricates[2] falsehood about God.

Imam al-Tabari cites narrations from Ibn Abbas, Ibn Masoud, and his companions in which they explain the abrogation of the verse by confirming its writing and changing its ruling, without explaining the meaning of the word “verse.” This clearly indicates that what comes to mind when the word “verse” is used in the Holy Qur’an is the Qur’anic verse, not the cosmic verse [3].

 

Thirdly: What is meant by substitution is substitution of the rulings that were revealed in the verses:

The meaning of substitution in the words of God Almighty: (And when We substitute one verse for another) (An-Nahl: 101), is substitution of the rulings with which the verses were revealed, and not of the verses themselves, i.e.: We transfer the ruling of one verse to another, so we substitute and change it, and that is by turning the permissible into the forbidden, and the forbidden into the permissible, and the permissible into the prohibited, and that only happens in the matter of command and prohibition, prohibition and release, prevention and permission. So if such a substitution of rulings occurs, the polytheists say: O Muhammad, you are only a liar.

On the authority of Ibn Abbas, he said: “Whenever a verse was revealed that was severe, and then a verse was revealed that was milder than it, the infidels of Quraysh would say: ‘We see the God of Muhammad as mocking his companions. Today he commands something and tomorrow he forbids it. He does not say these things except from his own mind.’”

This word is the best that the commentators have said about the meaning of the verse. What is meant by the substitution in the Almighty’s saying: “We have substituted” is the absolute difference between purposes and situations, or the difference in meanings and their variation due to the difference in objectives with the clarity of combining their meanings[4].

Conclusion:

There is no contradiction between the verse of Surat Al-Anfal and the two verses of Surat Al-Imran, because the commentators differed about God’s support with angels in Al-Imran. Was it for the people of Badr, or was it for the people of Uhud?!

According to the first opinion, what is meant is that God supported the Muslims with a thousand angels, as in Surat Al-Anfal, then He followed this support with another support, as in Surat Al-Imran. This is indicated by His statement - the Almighty - with the difference in the number of angels into three opinions:

o Their number was one thousand, then it became three thousand, then it became five, which is most likely.

o Their number was nine thousand; including the thousand, three thousand, and five.

o Their number was four thousand, including the thousand and the three together, and the other five thousand did not descend, because the condition for their descent was not fulfilled.

According to the second opinion, what is meant is that the reinforcement in Surat Al-Anfal was on the day of Badr, and the reinforcement in Surat Al-Imran was on the day of Uhud, but the reinforcement of Uhud was not fulfilled because its condition was not fulfilled, which is the patience and piety of the believers. The result was negated because the premises were not fulfilled.

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(*) A response to slander against Islam, Dr. Abdul Jalil Shalabi, Dar Al-Qalam, Kuwait, 1st ed., 1405 AH/1982 AD.

[1] The Compendium of the Rulings of the Qur’an, Al-Qurtubi, Dar Ihya’ Al-Turath Al-Arabi, Beirut, 1405 AH/1985 AD, Vol. 8, p. 359.

[2] To lie: to lie.

[3] Studies in the Sciences of the Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Bakr Ismail, Dar Al-Manar, Cairo, 1st ed., 1411 AH/1991 AD, p. 279.

[4] Al-Tahrir wal-Tanwir, Muhammad al-Tahir Ibn Ashur, Dar Sahnoon for Publishing and Distribution, Tunis, n.d., Vol. 8, Part 14, p. 281.