He reports that the majority agree with this, but that Abul-Hasan At-Tameemi and Abu-Haneefa's colleagues do not. Those who agree quote the example of the sacrifice of Abraham of his son which they said was abrogated by the sacrifice of a ram, and the mandate of fifty prayers during the ascension journey which was later abrogated to five only. Those who disagreed regarded such abrogation as a change of mind. Ibn Al-Jawzi disagrees with the argument of mind change.
As I get more into this, I find that enlarging the scope of what "abrogation" means and what it covers could well be the reason why there is a majority that agrees with abrogation. The question is agree with
what exactly? If someone who agrees that 50 prayers were decreed and then reduced to 5 is considered to be in the majority that 'agrees with abrogation', then the majority will include almost everybody. This is why I am keen on addressing a single, specific question:
Are there
verses in the
text of the Quran that are abrogated verses?
I cannot ascertain what the majority opinion on
this question is, since statements about majority opinions are invoked in a larger context than this question. The difference between something being abrogated that is no longer there and something being abrogated and still is there is a profound difference that does not seem to be given due weight or distinction.