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Do the verses "There is no change for the Words of Allah" (Surah Yunus/64) and "There is none to alter His Words" (Surah Al-Kahf/27) contradict abrogation verses such as "And when We substitute a verse in place of another verse" (Surah An-Nahl/101), "Allah obliterates what He wills and establishes" (Surah Ar-Ra'd/39), and "Whatever a verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten" (Surah Al-Baqarah/106)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Quran is the word of Allah, with no contradictions in it, unlike the Gospels which were written by fallible human beings. The verses that deny the alteration of Allah's words, such as His saying: (There is no alteration for the Words of Allah), and His saying: (There is no changer of His Words), mean that no one can alter the words of Allah. However, Allah has the right to substitute one verse for another, which is abrogation (naskh), as in His saying: (And when We substitute a verse in place of a verse), and (Whatever a verse We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it). The second interpretation is that the "Words of Allah" that are not subject to alteration refer to His cosmic words, such as His ways in His creation, and what He has informed of regarding rewarding the obedient and punishing the disobedient. In summary, no one can alter Allah's cosmic words, nor His legislative words which He guaranteed to preserve, namely the Quran. This does not contradict Allah abrogating whatever He wills and sending down one verse in place of another.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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