`Afaana, in his book الرأي الصواب في منسوخ الكتاب, pages 60-65, tries to show that abrogation did occur and that it was a wise thing to do. He starts out by making the erroneous statement "It's been proven that abrogation did occur in the verses of the Quran, also that some verses were caused to be forgotten, per 2:106."
That statement is erroneous because 2:106 is conditional, something which `Afaana never mentions! I hate to think that he didn't notice that, but I hate more to think that he didn't understand its implication.
He also makes another erroneous statement when he says "It's also been proven that verses of the Quran were replaced and placed in their current locations by instruction from God." He overlooks the fact that in order to replace something, you have to take it from its original place and move it somewhere else. But the verses were placed in their current location by order from the Prophet (PBUH) at the time they were revealed. Even if we concede that they were placed later, there's no evidence that the Prophet ordered the first placement.
Then in attempting to explain the "wisdom" of abrogation, he says that the abrogated verses came to handle a special event in a unique way that is only appropriate for it. Then when the society became organized, the permanent ruling was revealed and made to abrogate the temporary ruling.
Two problems:
- There is no evidence that any event happened that required such special treatment and would not have been properly handled by the permanent ruling.
- God could have inspired the claimed special treatment, as he inspired the Hadeeth to him. It isn't necessary to make such inspiration a verse then have to say later that it was abrogated!
`Afaana's final conclusion is correct: that there are no abrogated verses in the Quran that the Prophet (PBUH) left to us. `Afaana simply couldn't discard the narrations, all of which are singles (آحاد) and many are inauthentic or not attributed to the Prophet (PBUH), which imply abrogation occurred. Perhaps he tried to bridge the two sides of the abrogation issue, but guess what? The pro-abrogation folk did not take to the gesture!