42لا يَأتيهِ الباطِلُ مِن بَينِ يَدَيهِ وَلا مِن خَلفِهِ ۖ تَنزيلٌ مِن حَكيمٍ حَميدٍMuhammad Asadno falsehood can ever attain to it openly, and neither in a stealthy manner,1 [since it is] bestowed from on high by One who is truly wise, ever to be praised.Lit., "neither from between its hands, nor from behind it", i.e., it cannot be openly changed by means of additions or omissions (Razi), and neither surreptitiously, by hostile or deliberately confusing interpretations. The above is one of the Qur'anic passages on which the great commentator Abu Muslim al-Isfahani (as quoted by Razi) bases his absolute rejection of the theory of "abrogation" (for which see note 87 on 2:106). Since the "abrogation" of any Qur'an-verse would have amounted to its ibtal - that is, to an open or implied declaration that it was henceforth to be regarded as null and void - the verse in question would have to be considered "false" (batil) in the context of the Qur'an as it is before us: and this, as Abu Muslim points out, would clearly contradict the above statement that "no falsehood (batil) can ever attain to it".