The doctrine of abrogation is now almost invariably applied by Musalman controversialists to the Old and New Testaments, which they say are abrogated by the Quran. "His (Muhammad's) law is the abrogator of every other law."[58] This is not, however, a legitimate use of the doctrine. According to the best and most ancient Muslim divines, abrogation refers entirely to the Quran and the Traditions, and even then is confined to commands and prohibitions. "Those who imagine it to be part of the Muhammadan creed that one law has totally repealed another, are utterly mistaken--we hold no such doctrine."[59] In the Tafsir-i-Itifaq it is written: "Abrogation affects those {63} matters which God has confined to the followers of Muhammad, and one of the chief advantages of it is that the way is made easy." In the Tafsir-i-Mazhiri we find: "Abrogation refers only to commands and prohibitions, not to facts or historical statements."[60] Again, no verse of the Quran, or a Tradition can be abrogated unless the abrogating verse is distinctly opposed to it in meaning. If it is a verse of the Quran, we must have the authority of Muhammad himself for the abrogation; if a Tradition, that of a Companion. Thus "the word of a commentator or a Mujtahid is not sufficient unless there is a 'genuine Tradition' (Hadis-i-Sahih), to show the matter clearly. The question of the abrogation of any previous command depends on historical facts with regard to the abrogation, not on the mere opinion of a commentator." It cannot be shown that either Muhammad or a Companion ever said that the Bible was abrogated. This rule, whilst it shows that the assertion of modern controversialists on this point is void of foundation, also illustrates another point to which I have often called attention, _viz._; that in Islam all interpretation must be regulated by traditionalism. Additions were occasionally made. Thus when it was revealed that those who stay at home were not before God as those who go forth to war, Abdullah and Ibn Um-Maktum said: 'and what if they were blind.' The Prophet asked for the shoulder-blade on which the verse was written. He then had a spasmodic convulsion. After his recovery he made Zeid add the words, "free from trouble." So now the whole verse reads thus: "Those believers who sit at home _free from trouble_ (_i.e._, bodily infirmity), and those who do valiantly in the cause of God, with their substance and their persons, shall not be treated alike." (Sura iv. 97). Years after, Zeid said: "I fancy I see the words now on the shoulder-blade near a crack." {64}