Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:101

Substituting one verse for another: This is naskh (abrogation). Allah Almighty abrogates laws with other laws because they are based on interests (maṣāliḥ). What was beneficial yesterday may become harmful today, and its opposite may become the benefit. Allah Almighty is All-Knowing of interests and harms; He establishes what He wills and abrogates what He wills by His wisdom. This is the meaning of His saying: "And Allah is most knowing of what He sends down."

"They said, 'You are but an inventor [of lies]'": They found an opening to attack, so they attacked out of their ignorance and distance from the knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated. They used to say: "Muhammad mocks his companions; he commands them with a matter today and forbids them from it tomorrow, then brings them something easier." They lied, for He would abrogate the more difficult with the easier, the easier with the more difficult, the easier with the easier, and the more difficult with the more difficult. The objective is the interest, not ease or hardship.

If you ask: Does the mention of substituting a verse with a verse prove that the Qur’an is only abrogated by its like, and that it is not valid to be abrogated by anything else, such as the Sunnah, Ijmāʿ (consensus), or Qiyās (analogy)?

I say: It contains evidence that a Qur’anic verse is abrogated by its like, but it does not negate its abrogation by other means. Furthermore, the manifest, mutawātir (mass-transmitted) Sunnah is equivalent to the Qur’an in necessitating knowledge, so abrogating the Qur’an with it is like abrogating it with its like. As for Ijmāʿ, Qiyās, and non-definitive Sunnah, it is not valid to abrogate the Qur’an with them.

"Say, 'The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord in truth to establish those who believe and as guidance and good tidings for the Muslims.'"