al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh - Qatada

al-Nāsikh wa al-Mansūkh (The Abrogating and Abrogated Verses) is an early treatise on Quranic abrogation transmitted from the Basran Successor and Quran commentator Qatada ibn Di'ama al-Sadusi (d. 117 AH / 735 CE) al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1. It is considered the earliest surviving specialized work dedicated to the subject of naskh (abrogation) in the Quran al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -….

Transmission and Authorship

The text reached later generations primarily through the transmission of Hammam ibn Yahya (d. 163 AH / 780 CE), who recorded the dictated teachings and narrations directly from Qatada al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1. Another early transmission from Qatada on this subject was preserved through Sa'id ibn Abi 'Aruba (d. 156 AH / 773 CE), which Hibat Allah ibn Salama (d. 410 AH / 1019 CE) cited as one of his foundational sources al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -….

Modern scholarship notes that the work does not represent a formally authored book in the later classical sense—since formal topical compilation (taṣnīf) emerged later in the mid-second century AH with figures like Ibn Jurayj and Ibn Abi 'Aruba—but rather a compiled collection of Qatada's exegetical dictations on abrogation that became treated and transmitted as an independent treatise al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1. The authenticity of its material is corroborated by numerous verbatim citations in classical works, including the Tafsīr of al-Tabari, the Nāsikh of Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, the Iḍāḥ of Makki ibn Abi Talib, and the Asbāb al-Nuzūl of al-Wahidi al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -….

Structure and Content

The treatise is organized according to the order of the Quranic chapters (suwar), beginning with Surat al-Baqarah al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1. It documents specific verses subject to legal or textual replacement, identifying both the abrogated (mansūkh) rulings and the abrogating (nāsikh) passages al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1.

Among its earliest examples are discussions on the redirection of the prayer direction (qiblah) from Jerusalem to the Kaaba in Mecca, as well as the transition from early Quranic commands enjoining forbearance toward non-believers to subsequent rulings revealed in Surat al-Tawbah al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1. The work reflects the broader early definition of abrogation employed by the Successors, which frequently encompassed legal specification (takhṣīṣ) alongside full statutory repeal al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1.

Manuscripts and Editions

The text is preserved in a manuscript kept in the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (under Majmū‘ no. 7899, fol. 67), which carries a continuous chain of audition (samā‘) through scholars including the traditionist Abu Tahir al-Silafi (d. 576 AH / 1180 CE) in Alexandria al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…+1.

The work was edited by Hatim Salih al-Damin and first published in the Iraqi academic journal al-Mawrid (Vol. 9, No. 4, 1981) al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh -…. It was subsequently printed as a standalone book by Mu’assasat al-Risalah in Beirut in 1404 AH / 1984 CE, seeing multiple later editions Darj al-Durar fi Tafsir a…+1.