and he publicised this claim in one of the Damascus newspapers, around 1386 AH.

In the sources we have mentioned, Shah Wali Allah al-Dahlawi states in Hujjat Allah al-Balighah 2/190, after citing both the narrations that prohibit and the narration that permits:

“The upshot is that it is, in principle, lawful. That is what the purport of these reports requires, and I have found nothing that opposes them.”

Siddiq Hasan Khan concurs with him in al-Rawdah al-Nadiyyah 2/217–218.

I say: One indication of how weak this claim of abrogation is lies in the fact that a certain doctrinaire Hanafi—already alluded to—did not look upon it with favour, even though he quoted it from the majority whose views he himself follows on this issue. He contested it with the following argument, in which he was indeed correct:

“Abrogation should not be invoked so long as it is possible to harmonise the hadiths in such a way that none of the evidences is set aside.”

This is indisputably true and is a well-established principle in legal theory. Regrettably, however, the doctor did not remain consistent with it; rather, he reverted