s abrogation. However, according to the Ijma' it has been
abrogated. "But alms are only to be given to the poor and the needy and to
those who collect them, and to those whose hearts are won to Islam." (Sura
ix. 60.) The clause--"to those whose hearts are won to Islam"--is now
cancelled.[57] Muhammad, to gain the hearts of those, who lately enemies,
had now become friends, and to confirm them in the faith, gave them large
presents from the spoils he took in war; but when Islam spread and became
strong, the 'Ulama agreed that such a procedure was not required and said
that the order was "mansukh."

The other verses abrogated relate to the Ramazan fast, to Jihad, the law of
retaliation, and other matters of social interest.

The doctrine of abrogation is now almost invariably applied by Musalman
controversialists to the Old and New Testaments, which they say are
abrogated by the Quran. "His (Muhammad's) law is the abrogator of every
other law."[58] This is not, however, a legitimate use of the doctrine.
According to the best and most ancient Muslim divines, abrogation refers
entirely to the Quran and the Traditions, and even then is confined to
commands and prohibitions. "Those who imagine it to be part of the
Muhammadan creed that one law has totally repealed another, are utterly
mistaken--we hold no such doctrine."[59] In the Tafsir-i-Itifaq it is
written: "Abrogation affects those {63} matters which God has confined to
the followers of Muhammad, and one of the chief advantages of it is that
the way is made easy." In the Tafsir-i-Mazhiri we find: "Abrogation refers
only to commands and prohibitions, not to facts or historical
statements."[60] Again, no verse of the Quran, or a Tradition can be
abrogated unless the abrogating verse is distinctly opposed to it in
meaning. If it is a verse of the Quran, we must have the authority of
Muhammad himself for the abrogation; if a Tradition, that of a Companion.
Thus "the word of a commentator or a Mujtahid is not sufficient unless
there is a 'genuine Tradition' (Hadis-i-Sahih), to show the matter clearly.
The question of the abrogation of any previous command depends on
historical facts with regard to the abrogation, not on the mere opinion of
a commentator." It cannot be shown that either Muhammad or a Companion ever
said that the Bible was abrogated. This rule, whilst it shows that the
assertion of modern controversialists on this point is void of foundation,
also illustrates