Dr. M. Ibrahim Faaris, who verified the book صفوة الراسخ في علم المنسوخ والناسخ, by Abu-Abdillah Shu`la, says on page 10 that he sees abrogation as a grace from God, who "raised the Muslim community in 23 years in a way that would normally take centuries."
The gradual approach in legislation has been cited a lot in the literature as the wisdom behind abrogation in the Quran. But scrutiny reveals that none of the earlier legislative rulings have actually been canceled. They were amended. He rejects that.
They are confusing three issues here (1) the gradual legislation which I label the dynamic phase, (2) whether the gradual legislation involved abrogation within the Quran, and (3) whether that rendered a command invalid but still left for us by the Prophet (PBUH) in the text of the Quran.
There is no dispute about (1) at least from the dual part; certain things became required or forbidden when they hadn't been before (fasting, drinking alcohol, etc.). Whether that gradual legislation involved annulment of a Quranic command is another issue, and whether such command is left in the text of the Quran is a third issue. The abrogation doctrine assumes (2) and (3), but its defenders use (1) as an argument.