Allah when he reported to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the words of Ibn Ubayy, one of the hypocrites:

“If we return to Medina, the more honourable will surely expel the more lowly from it.”

Some disbelieved him, and some of the believers reproached him, until Allah revealed His words:

“They say, ‘If we return to Medina…’”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then said: “This is the one whose hearing Allah has vindicated.”

He had not prayed with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, until after the Hijrah. Thus, it is clear that they continued speaking during prayer after the Hijrah. He also stated that the prohibition came through the verse commanding the safeguarding of prayer, which was revealed in Medina by consensus. Indeed, it may be argued that it was only revealed in the year of the Battle of the Trench, when the polytheists kept the Prophet from the afternoon prayer, prompting him to say:

“May Allah fill their graves and houses with fire, just as they kept us from the middle prayer, the afternoon prayer.”

This is established in the Sahīh.

Those who hold this view therefore said: “If the incident of Dhū al-Yadayn occurred before Badr, and it has not been established that speaking during prayer had already been prohibited—or if it has been established that it was prohibited only later, indeed after the year of the Battle of the Trench, which was more than two years after Badr—then its ruling was abrogated. At most, it may be said that the incident could have occurred before the abrogation or after it; it therefore no longer serves as evidence.”

We find many people among the followers of Abū Hanīfah and others who oppose authentic hadith saying: “This is abrogated.” They have made this claim a shield (1): whenever a hadith does not agree with their school’s position, they say, “It is abrogated,” without knowing that it was abrogated or establishing what abrogated it.