and he would forget it during the day. So Allah revealed:

‘Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or similar to it.’”

The same was also reported from Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās, Muhammad ibn Kaʿb, Qatādah, and ʿIkrimah.

Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās used to recite it as aw tunsihā (“or you forget it”), in the second person—that is, “you forget it, O Muhammad.” He recited Allah’s words, “We will make you recite, and you will not forget,” and His words:

“Remember your Lord when you forget.”

Reports also relate that one of them would memorize passages of the Quran and then forget them. They would mention this to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he would say, “It has been withdrawn.” An example is the sound report transmitted by al-Zuhrī: Abū Umāmah ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf told me, in the gathering of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib:

“A man had memorized a surah and rose during the night to recite it, but could not. Another rose to recite it, but could not, and another rose to recite it, but could not. In the morning, they came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. One of them said, ‘Last night I tried to recite such-and-such a surah, but could not.’ Another said, ‘That is the only reason I have come.’ Another said, ‘That is the only reason I have come.’ And another said, ‘The same happened to me, O Messenger of Allah.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘It was abrogated last night.’”

As for the reading “or We defer it,” the word nasʾ means postponement. The early generations held two views concerning this. The first is reported from a group of them. Al-Suddī said concerning “Whatever verse We abrogate”: “Abrogating it means withdrawing it. ‘Or We defer it’ means that We leave it without abrogating it. ‘We bring something better’ than