BismiLlah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim

Divine laws were revealed by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to His messengers ‘alayhim salatu was-salaam for the purpose of correcting man’s beliefs about Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (‘aqidah), his methods of worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (‘ibadah), and his social life or social conduct (mu’amalat). Since there is only one correct belief about Allah subhanahu wa ta’alatawhid, whereby Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is considered as One, without partner in His essence, His attributes, His actions, and right of worship, all of the prophets invited mankind to that belief in exactly the same way.

However, in the case of methods of worship and social conduct, the same format was not used in all cases. Thus Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala repealed Laws in certain conditions and this is known as Naskh. The proof of this is in the ayah,

CONDITIONS FOR NASKH

For naskh to have taken place, the following three conditions must have been fulfilled:

1. The law which has been replaced has to have been a divine law. This means that the gradual prohibition of alcohol would not be classified as naskh, because each successive verse only expanded the prohibitive scope of the previous verse. The original behaviour of the people was to act as if alcohol was lawful. It was their assumption that alcohol was permissible that was gradually abolished by the three verses on this subject, not any previous statement by Allaah that liquor was permissible.

2. The proof used to replace the old law has to be a divine command which was revealed after the revelation of the old law.

3. The law which is to be replaced cannot have a specific time limit attached to it from the time of its revelation. If it has a limited time period, it simply becomes void when the time period ends, and such a process is not considered as naskh. For instance, fasting is required daily until sunset during Ramadan. The permission to eat at night during Ramadan or, after it is over, by day or night, doesn’t involve naskh.

[1] Surat al-Baqarah:106