No Changing Allah’s Words vs Abrogation: Refuting the Qur’an Contradiction Claim
No Changing Allah’s Words vs Abrogation: Is There a Contradiction?
Some sophists imagine that there is a contradiction between the words of Allah Almighty: “There is no changing the words of Allah” and His words: “There is no changing His words”, and between His words: “And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse…”
They ask: how can Allah deny any change in His words in one place, then affirm substitution in another place?
The critic claims that the Qur’an contradicts itself because some verses say Allah’s words cannot be changed, while another verse says Allah substitutes one verse for another. According to the critic, this allegedly proves confusion in the Qur’an.
This objection is built on confusing two different subjects: Allah’s unchangeable decree, promise, judgment, and cosmic laws on one side, and legislative abrogation within revelation on the other.
The verses are not speaking about the same type of “change.”
The Verses Used in the Objection
“For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. There is no changing the words of Allah. That is the great success.”
“And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is no changer of His words, and never will you find besides Him a refuge.”
“And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse — and Allah knows best what He sends down — they say, ‘You are only an inventor.’ Rather, most of them do not know.”
The critic reads these verses as if they all discuss the same issue. They do not.
The Core Answer
“There is no changing the words of Allah” refers to Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, and established laws. “When We substitute a verse in place of a verse” refers to abrogation or replacement of a legal ruling in revelation. These are different subjects, so there is no contradiction.
Contradiction only exists when two statements deny each other in the same respect, at the same time, and in the same meaning.
That condition is not met here.
One passage speaks about the impossibility of anyone overturning Allah’s decree, promise, and judgment. The other speaks about Allah Himself replacing one revealed ruling with another according to His wisdom.
What Is Meant by “The Words of Allah”?
In these verses, “the words of Allah” can refer to Allah’s decree, His promise, His judgment among creation, His news, and His established cosmic laws.
When Allah says there is no changing His words, the meaning is not that no legal ruling can ever be abrogated by Allah. Rather, it means that none can overturn what Allah has decreed, none can break His promise, none can invalidate His judgment, and none can escape the cosmic laws He established.
Al-Qurtubi explains that “there is no changing the words of Allah” means there is no breaking of His promise, no changing of His report, and no alteration of what He has decreed. What Allah has informed will occur exactly as He said.
So the verse is about the certainty and authority of Allah’s words, not a denial of legislative abrogation.
Allah’s Decree Cannot Be Overturned
No one can change what Allah decrees in creation.
No one can stop His judgment.
No one can invalidate His promise.
No one can falsify what He truthfully informs.
No one can escape His cosmic laws.
“There is no changing the words of Allah” means creation cannot overturn Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, or truth. It does not mean Allah cannot replace one legal ruling with another in revelation.
The critic’s error is crude: he treats Allah changing a ruling by His own wisdom as if it were a creature changing Allah’s decree by force.
Those are not the same thing.
What Is Meant by “Verse” in An-Nahl 16:101?
In the verse:
“And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse…”
The word āyah here refers to a Qur’anic verse, not a cosmic sign or cosmic law.
The context makes this clear because the disbelievers respond by accusing the Prophet ﷺ of fabrication:
“They say, ‘You are only an inventor.’”
This accusation was about revelation being recited to them, not about the laws of the universe.
The substitution in An-Nahl 16:101 concerns revealed verses and rulings. It does not mean Allah’s promise, decree, or cosmic laws are being changed by someone else.
Al-Tabari’s Explanation
Imam al-Tabari explains that the meaning of substituting one verse for another is that Allah abrogates the ruling of one verse and replaces it with another ruling, while Allah knows best what benefits His creation.
Al-Tabari explains An-Nahl 16:101 as the abrogation of the ruling of one verse and the replacement of that ruling with another. The disbelievers then accused the Prophet ﷺ of fabrication, although Allah knows best what He sends down and what is best for His servants.
This is legislative abrogation. It is not corruption. It is not contradiction. It is not someone changing Allah’s words against His will.
It is Allah legislating according to His wisdom.
What Is Substitution in This Verse?
Substitution here means that Allah replaces one ruling with another ruling in revelation. This occurs in matters of command and prohibition, permission and restriction, according to divine wisdom.
For example, a ruling may be strict at one stage, then replaced by a lighter ruling. Or something permitted may later be restricted. Or something restricted may later be permitted.
This does not imply ignorance or contradiction. It reflects gradual legislation, wisdom, testing, mercy, and suitability to circumstances.
A contradiction would mean two opposing rulings are binding in the same way, at the same time, in the same respect. Abrogation means one ruling’s legal application is replaced by another. That is not contradiction.
The critic is confusing replacement with contradiction.
The Polytheists Made the Same Weak Objection
The verse itself mentions that the disbelievers objected when revelation replaced one ruling with another.
“They say, ‘You are only an inventor.’ Rather, most of them do not know.”
The Qur’an already answers them: most of them do not know.
Their accusation came from ignorance of revelation, wisdom, and divine legislation.
The disbelievers saw abrogation and accused the Prophet ﷺ of fabrication. Allah answered that they do not know. The same objection repeated today is not new; it is the old objection of those who misunderstood revelation.
So the modern skeptic is not discovering a new contradiction. He is repeating an ancient objection already refuted by the verse itself.
Ibn Abbas on the Objection of Quraysh
It is reported from Ibn Abbas that when a severe verse was revealed and then a milder verse came after it, the disbelievers of Quraysh would claim that Muhammad ﷺ was commanding something one day and forbidding it the next, as if it came from himself.
Whenever a severe verse was revealed, then a milder verse was revealed after it, the disbelievers of Quraysh would say that the God of Muhammad was mocking his companions: today He commands something and tomorrow He forbids it.
This accusation was ignorance. Allah sends down what He wills, when He wills, according to wisdom.
The disbelievers interpreted divine legislation through mockery, not understanding.
Ibn Ashur on Substitution
Ibn Ashur explains that the substitution mentioned in An-Nahl 16:101 concerns difference in purposes, situations, meanings, and objectives.
Ibn Ashur explains that substitution in the verse refers to difference between purposes and circumstances, and variation in meanings due to different objectives, while the overall meanings remain coherent.
This is important because abrogation does not mean random contradiction. It means revelation addresses changing circumstances, stages of legislation, and different objectives.
Why There Is No Contradiction
There is no contradiction because the verses are speaking about different things.
| Verse | Subject | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Yunus 10:64 | Allah’s words | No one can change Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, or truthful report. |
| Al-Kahf 18:27 | Allah’s words | None can alter what Allah has revealed or overturn His words. |
| An-Nahl 16:101 | Substitution of verses | Allah may replace one revealed ruling with another according to His wisdom. |
| [[abrogation-in-islam-explained-refuting-christian-claims-about-naskh-and-quran-preservation | Abrogation in Islam Explained: Refuting Christian Claims About Naskh and Qur’an Preservation]] |
These meanings do not conflict.
The first category denies that creation can change Allah’s decree, promise, or judgment. The second affirms that Allah Himself may legislate one ruling, then replace it with another ruling by His own authority. There is no contradiction between these two ideas.
Only someone who ignores context would confuse them.
The Critic’s False Assumption
The critic assumes that “no changing Allah’s words” must mean “Allah will never abrogate a ruling.”
That assumption is not in the verse.
The phrase means that Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, and truthful report cannot be altered or invalidated. It does not deny Allah’s right to legislate and abrogate as He wills.
The critic forces one meaning of “words” onto every passage, ignores context, and then calls the result a contradiction. That is not interpretation. That is word-level confusion.
The Qur’an frequently uses words according to context. A serious reader must ask what the word means in each passage, not impose one meaning everywhere.
Abrogation Belongs to Allah’s Wisdom
Allah knows best what He sends down.
“And Allah knows best what He sends down.”
This phrase is central. Allah does not replace rulings out of ignorance. He replaces them by knowledge.
A ruling may be suitable for one stage, then another ruling may be revealed for another stage. This is not deficiency. It is wise legislation.
The verse does not present substitution as confusion. It presents it as revelation governed by Allah’s knowledge.
The critic reads divine wisdom as instability because he does not understand the nature of staged legislation.
Abrogation Is Not Human Corruption
There is a massive difference between these two claims:
- A human being changed Allah’s words.
- Allah Himself replaced one ruling with another.
The Qur’an denies the first. The Qur’an affirms the second.
Human alteration of Allah’s words is impossible against Allah’s will. Divine abrogation by Allah’s own authority is part of revelation. Confusing the two is the whole mistake.
A king can replace his own order. That does not mean a servant has the power to corrupt the king’s decree.
Likewise, Allah may replace a ruling by His wisdom. That does not mean creation can change Allah’s words.
The Role of Command and Prohibition
The source material explains that substitution occurs in matters such as:
- command and prohibition,
- permission and restriction,
- prevention and allowance,
- lawful and unlawful rulings.
These are legislative categories. They are not Allah’s eternal knowledge being corrected. They are not Allah discovering new information. They are revealed rulings applied according to divine wisdom.
Legislative abrogation means that the legal application of a previous ruling is lifted or replaced by a later ruling from Allah. It does not mean Allah was mistaken. It means Allah legislated in stages according to His knowledge.
This is basic legal reasoning. A lawgiver may issue one rule for one period, then issue another for another period. That does not create contradiction if the second rule replaces the first.
The Polytheists Were Not Authorities in Truth
The source material makes a useful point: if there had been a blatant contradiction in these verses, the eloquent Arabs who opposed the Prophet ﷺ would have exploited it immediately.
They were masters of Arabic expression and fiercely hostile to the Qur’an. Yet the objection raised here depends on shallow confusion over context and terminology.
The early opponents of Islam understood Arabic better than later polemicists who depend on translation and isolated wording. If the alleged contradiction were obvious, it would not require fourteen centuries of strained polemics to invent it.
This does not mean the truth depends on the silence of opponents. It means the alleged contradiction is not linguistically obvious. It depends on misreading.
The Correct Method
A contradiction exists only when two statements cannot both be true in the same respect.
Here, both statements are true:
Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, and truthful words cannot be changed.
Allah may replace one revealed ruling with another revealed ruling.
There is no collision.
Before claiming contradiction, the critic must prove that the same word is being used in the same meaning, in the same context, about the same subject. He has not done that.
The entire objection fails at the methodological level.
Final Refutation
The verses in Yunus and Al-Kahf deny that Allah’s words can be altered, overturned, falsified, or escaped. They affirm the certainty of Allah’s promise, decree, judgment, and truth.
The verse in An-Nahl speaks about Allah substituting one revealed verse or ruling for another according to His knowledge and wisdom.
One is about the impossibility of changing Allah’s decree and promise. The other is about Allah’s own authority to legislate and abrogate.
These are not contradictions.
There is no contradiction between “there is no changing the words of Allah” and “when We substitute a verse in place of a verse.” The first refers to the unchangeable authority of Allah’s decree, promise, judgment, and truth. The second refers to legislative abrogation within revelation. The critic confused two different meanings and then blamed the Qur’an for his own confusion.
Source Notes
Adapted from the provided article material on the alleged contradiction between the verses denying change in Allah’s words and An-Nahl 16:101 on substituting one verse for another.
- Al-Qurṭubī, Al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1405 AH / 1985 CE, vol. 8, p. 359.
- Muḥammad Bakr Ismāʿīl, Dirāsāt fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, Dār al-Manār, Cairo, 1st ed., 1411 AH / 1991 CE, p. 279.
- Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr, Al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr, Dār Saḥnūn, Tunis, vol. 8, part 14, p. 281.
- Dr. ʿAbd al-Jalīl Shalabī, Radd ʿalā Iftirāʾāt ʿalā al-Islām, Dār al-Qalam, Kuwait, 1st ed., 1405 AH / 1982 CE.
...e Prophet ﷺ, and is enforced by the unanimous agreement of the Muslim jurists. Related Posts -...