what We have abrogated, or the like of what We have left.”

Likewise, in al-Wālibī’s commentary transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās:

“Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten” means: whatever verse We replace, or leave without withdrawing it from you, “We bring one better than it or similar to it.” This was also reported from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas.

Some have interpreted the first reading in this sense, saying that nunsihā means “We leave it with you,” since nisyān (“forgetting”) can mean leaving something. Al-Azharī said: “Nunsihā means ‘We command that it be left.’ One says ansaytu al-shayʾ.” He cited the verse:

“I have a turn of duty to fulfil;
I shall neither leave it nor bid that it be left.”

That is, “nor command that it be left.” The third view is: “We suspend its application by abrogating it.” The correct view is the middle one.

Ibn Abī Hātim narrated through his chain of transmission from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, addressed us, saying: ‘Allah says, “Whatever verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten”—that is, We defer it.’”

Through his well-known chain of transmission, he also reported from Abū al-ʿĀliyah: “‘Whatever verse We abrogate’—so that it is no longer acted upon—‘or cause to be forgotten,’ meaning: We hold it back with Us.” In another wording from Abū al-ʿĀliyah: “We defer it with Us.” From ʿAtāʾ it is reported: “We defer it.”

A third view has also been reported from the early generations, constituting a fourth view here. Its meaning is:

“Whatever verse We abrogate”—that is, what We have sent down to you and do not withdraw—“or cause to be forgotten,” meaning: We defer its revelation and do not send it down. Some have attributed this to Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and ʿAtāʾ. As for