relegated the Sunnah to an inferior rank, and they also imagined that his words, “I will exercise my reasoning,” meant “I will judge by mere opinion.” That is not what he intended.

If someone were to ask, “Can the Sunnah ever abrogate the Qur’an?”

We reply: in principle, if an authenticated prophetic report truly abrogates a Qur’anic ruling, we affirm it—but in reality no sound example exists.

People sometimes cite the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “No bequest may be made in favour of an heir.”(1) This is an incorrect example, for the Messenger ﷺ also said, “Allah has given every rightful claimant his due.”(2) In that report he simply clarified the ruling that supersedes the earlier practice, as though saying, “The fixed shares of inheritance have now sufficed you with respect to bequests.”

Even if we were to concede every point, this ḥadith did not annul the verse, and even had the Prophet only said, “No bequest for an heir,” it still would not have abrogated the verse, for the verse states: “It is prescribed for you, when death approaches any one of you, if he leaves wealth, to make a bequest for parents and near relatives.” (Q 2:180) This is a case of specification, not abrogation, because the “near relatives” who inherit are excluded while the bequest remains valid for those who do not inherit. Thus, even on their own terms, it is specification rather than abrogation—and, in any case, the example is unsound by every measure.

Accordingly, if you do not find the explanation in the Qur’an or the Sunnah, you then return to the statements of the Companions, for they understood such matters best, having witnessed