Clarification about Verse 60:8, Whether or Not It Is Abrogated
Fatwa No: 402889

Question

As-Salamu Aleikum. I just read fatwa 395743. In the answer you said that Ibn Kathir does not agree that sura 60:8 is abrogated, yet (as is in the question to the fatwa) in tafseer Al-Jalalayn it says that sura 60:8 is abrogated. Whom shall we trust then? Whom shall we follow? Ibn Kathir who might not have added this information into his tafseer or rather Al-Jalalayn where this information appears?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is very strange that you mentioned what is not in the Fatwa that you referred to. We did not mention in that Fatwa that Ibn Katheer mentioned that this verse was abrogated, and we have absolutely not mentioned in it statements from Tafseer Al-Jalaalayn. Rather, we mentioned the interpretation of Ibn Katheer of the verse in Chapter Al-Mumtahanah in which Allah Says (what means): {Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.} [Quran 60:8]

Then we mentioned the statement of Al-Qurtubi that there is a difference of opinion among the scholars regarding the abrogation of this verse and that most scholars of Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran) are of the view that it is not abrogated.

Besides, the matter is not about having trust in one scholar or another: all these scholars are trusted in regard to their knowledge and religion.

The matter in such issues about which the scholars differed in opinion, is not about trust, or no trust; rather, it depends on the Ijtihaad of the scholars in understanding the islamic texts. Since most scholars are of the view that the verse is not abrogated, then it is enough for you to act according to their view as long as you do not have sufficient Islamic knowledge to judge and favor which statement is closer to the truth.

For more benefit to which view of the scholar a layman may adhere, please refer to Fataawa 384031, 202966, and 384565.

Allah knows best.

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