Yes, if narrating the Sunnah of the Prophet in a widely transmitted manner and disseminating it worldwide—like the Quran—had been obligatory for Muslims, then abrogating the Quran by it might have been permissible and might have occurred, even if Muslims had not done so; because their negligence to narrate the Sunnah of the Prophet in a widely transmitted manner and to disseminate it worldwide—like the Quran—would not have prevented the abrogation of the Quran by it. However, to be fair, narrating the Quran in a widely transmitted manner and disseminating it worldwide resulted more from Allah’s will and action than from that of Muslims, originating from the characteristics of the Quran and being initiated and managed by the Prophet; as Allah Almighty has said: ﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾[1]; “Indeed, We Ourselves sent down the Quran, and We will surely preserve it.” In contrast, narrating the Sunnah of the Prophet in a widely transmitted manner and disseminating it worldwide did not possess such a capacity, nor were they initiated and managed by the Prophet alongside the Quran. Therefore, it appears that it was never intended for the Sunnah of the Prophet to establish a ruling contrary to the Quran, and accordingly, there was no motivation for narrating it on par with the Quran.

[The Impossibility of Specifying the Quran with the Sunnah of the Prophet]

Similarly, specifying the Quran is permissible only with the Quran and not with the Sunnah of the Prophet; because specification is a form of abrogation, and abrogating the Quran by the Sunnah of the Prophet is not permissible. Likewise, a widely transmitted general statement is not specified with a solitary specific statement, and specifying what is clear with what is obscure is unfair, but rather contrary to the approach of intellectuals; for they do not specify their public announcements with private ones, but with public announcements, and they excuse those who act on public announcements after private ones. It is clear that Allah Almighty is one of the intellectuals—rather, their Creator and Master—and therefore, specifying the Quran with the Sunnah of the Prophet is not possible, unless it is a Sunnah that is widely transmitted and clear, like the Quran, in which case specifying the Quran with it is possible. However, it is evident that such a Sunnah does not exist;