For this reason, a number of the early Qurʾānic commentators declared that the “definitive” (muhkam) passages are the abrogating (nāsikh) ones, whereas the “ambiguous” (mutashābih) passages are those that have been abrogated (mansūkh). What they meant—God knows best—was His statement: “So God abrogates what Satan casts, then God makes His verses definitive” (22:52). Here, abrogation (naskh) refers to removing what Satan had inserted, not to repealing anything God Himself had prescribed.

I have pointed out elsewhere the basis of this: at times God contrasts the definitive with the ambiguous, and at other times He contrasts it with the abrogated. In the terminology of the early scholars, the term “abrogated” has a broad scope; it includes every apparent wording whose literal sense is set aside in favor of a stronger proof—for example, when a general text is specified or an absolute statement is restricted.