thee to forget, we bring a better or its like [Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 100]. Two
arguments are advanced by Muslims to this effect:—
(1) In the 'Kitabu'l-Yanbu' ibn Zafar denies that the verse is abrogated in text.
'The witness of one man, (i.e. 'Umar),' he says, 'does not prove that the verse is
genuine. The truth is that the verse is of the category of the to-be-forgotten and not
the to-be-abrogated verses, the difference between the two categories being that a verse
which may be made forgotten exists in effect.' We cannot, however, reconcile this with
the fact that the verse in question was remembered, and that by more than one of the
Companions.
(2) If God really wanted the verse to be forgotten, He would of course have abrogated
its effect. But in this case we see that though the text has been dropped, its sentence
still survives, and has been repeatedly applied to adulterers.
This proves that Muhammad was not 'caused to forget' the verse, but simply disliked
the recording of it, and he consequently discouraged 'Umar from recording it, and pushed
Ubai in his chest when the latter asked him to recite it to him. Ibn Majah said that the
remainder of Suratu'l-Ahzab (xxxiii) was written on a leather roll and placed underneath
the bed of the Prophet. When Muhammad died, 'Ayesha accompanied his funeral to the
grave, and on her return she found that a goat had eaten the roll with all
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