THE MEANING OF SIGN IN THE QURAN
The word ayat means ‘evidence’, ‘sign’. According to the Quran, everything created by God contains ayats: plants, men, events that happened to the tribes in the past, night and day, etc. Ayat is never used in the Quran in the sense of ‘verse’ as one can see in the following verses in which the word is used in the singular: 2 The Cow, 106, 118, 211, 248, 259; 3 The Family of Imran, 13, 41, 49, 50; 5 The Feast, 114; 6 The Cattle, 4,25,35,37,109; 7 The Purgatory, 73, 106, 132, 146, 203; 10 Jonah, 20, 92,97; Hud, 64, 103; 12 Joseph, 105,; 13, The Thunder, 7, 27, 38; 15 Al Hijr, 77; 16 The Honey Bees, 11,13,65, 67, 69, 101; 17 The Children of Israel, 12; 19 Mary, 21; 20 Taha, 22, 47, 133; 21 The Prophets, 5, 91; 23 The Believers, 50; 25 The Distinguisher, 37; 26 The Poets, 4, 8, 67, 103, 121,128,139, 154, 158, 174, 190, 197; 27 The Ant, 52; 29 The Spider, 15, 35, 44; 30 The Romans, 58; 34 Sheba, 9, 15; 36 Yasin, 33, 37, 41, 46; 37 Who Stand in Row, 14; 40 The Believer, 78; 43 The Vanity, 48; 51 The Dispersing, 37; The Moon, 2, 15. As we can witness from this long list, the word ayat, which is used in plural in 2 Baqara 106, must be interpreted not as the verses as such of the Quran, but as evidences, miracles, signs of God. Once this point is made clear, the conundrum that involves abrogation of verses becomes absurd. The Quran expressed in many instances that it contained no contradictions.
82 – Do they not ponder over the Quran?
4 The Women, 82
Given the fact that there is no contradiction in the Quran, there should be no abrogation of any of its verses. Had it been otherwise of the two paradoxical statements one should have been rendered null and void As a matter of fact, if one takes the trouble to consult 2 The Cow, 105 that precedes 2 The Cow, 106, one can see that what is meant in the latter are the signs, and evidences.
105 – Those without faith among the people of the Book, and those who worship idols, do not wish that good should come to you from your Lord. But God chooses whom He likes for His grace and the bounty of God is infinite.
2 The Cow, 105
The substitution of an ayat with another ayat is mentioned in 16 The Honey Bees, 101:
101 – When we substitute one sign (ayat) for another -and God knows best what He sent down- they say: “You are but a forger.” Indeed, most of them do not know.
6 The Honey Bees, 101
If we closely examine this verse and those succeeding to it, we can see that the reason of the above accusation of the Prophet as forger is not the mutual abrogation of the verses in the Quran. The Prophet was accused of forgery for having announced that it was God that had sent it.
103 – We know indeed that they say: “It is a man that teaches him.”
6 The Honey Bees, 103
To come back to 2 The Cow, 106 we cannot help witnessing the fact that the new verse is a substitute for the verse that underwent nasih, viz. forgotten.
9 – Surely, We have sent down Reminder, We, We are protecting it.
15 Al Hijr, 9
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