An analysis of the background and motives of Nöldeke and others was written in a Cambridge University publication by Jane Dammen Mcauliffe of George Town University.
First, I will outline the major charges contained in the article and deal with them one by one. ......
The first charge is that the Quran contains within its texts discrepancies or different instructions and abrogations.
Now, discrepancies are not the same as abrogations. For any meaningful discussion of the matter, let us define both terms and explain what they mean before levelling accusations. I understand discrepancies as contradictory statements or verses speaking about the creation, the attributes of God, or the stories of previous prophets and people mentioned in the Quran. These statements are termed "Khabar" or "news" which means information about incidents that happened in the past or will happen in the future that are told to us by God in His own Words.
Now, I have not come across any one who pointed out accurately such a discrepancy in the Quran. Nöldeke himself fails to give any examples of these assumed discrepancies in his article.
Abrogations on the other hand are instructions and laws that have been changed by God at some point of time. Abrogations do exist in the Quran in a number of instances - the exact number is a matter of difference between Muslim and non Muslim scholars- but what most critics of Islam ignore, is the fact that abrogations do not in any way detract from the Divine source of the text. In fact, abrogations have occurred and are occurring throughout the history of mankind and in all revealed scriptures. I will give some examples to show that abrogations are simply a way in which God exercise his authority over his creation.
Detractors put forward the argument "How can the All Knowing, All Powerful God changes His mind about anything".
The Muslim doctrinal answer to the question is "If you believe in an All Knowing, All Powerful God, then do not object to His commands. submit to His will, and then try, and only try, to figure out the good that the new commands bring".
Now let us look at some instances of abrogations that occurred during the time of Moses and Jesus- Peace be upon them- and these are well documented in the respective scriptures.
Abrogations in the Jewish Bible:
- In the Book of Exodus 32:7-14, it is said that the Lord said to Moses he will destroy his people for worshipping the calf, but after Moses prayed for them to be shown mercy, -Quote: "Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people"
This example is fact a discrepancy as well as an abrogation, since the word used to describe the Lord action in the Hebrew Bible and also in literal translations of the Greek Bible is "repented", indicating that God Almighty has "regretted" what he intended to do to his people. Some modern scribes have changed the translation of the word "repented" to "reconsidered" to hide the discrepancy. - Another example - again showing an abrogation and a discrepancy- is in Genesis :6, which states:
"And the LORD repented that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
So, according to this verse, the All Knowing God again repented an earlier deed.
Abrogations in the New Testament:
- In the Book of Mathew 10:5-7, Jesus sends his disciples to the children of Israel, ordering them not to preach to the gentiles.
(These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "5: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6: Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7: As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near).
This order is abrogated later on with Mathew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".
//End of Part 1//
