This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
My Lord, inspire me to give thanks for Your blessing … and to do righteous work that pleases You, and set right for me my offspring …
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur read the word “kurhan” in the Almighty’s saying: “His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship”? And does the verse, in the available citation, establish a connection between righteous action and Islam?
In the available citation, Shahrur interprets “kurhan” in the verse as the hardship and suffering accompanying pregnancy and childbirth, not merely as aversion. As for making righteous action a correlate of Islam, this citation does not establish it, because it does not discuss this part of the verse or connect it to the concept of Islam.
Shahrur employs Al-Ahqaf 15 as linguistic evidence that “kurh” can mean hardship; he specifically applies this to the phrase “His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship.” Shahrur places this meaning within his distinction between “kurh” and “ikrah”: the former, in his view, denotes aversion or hardship depending on the context, whereas ikrah is compulsion and coercion.
Citation and Location
Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 157.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation from “Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism” is confined to explaining the meaning of “kurh” in Al-Ahqaf 15 and does not explain the supplication for righteous action in the verse.
- The claim that righteous action is coupled with Islam cannot properly be attributed to this citation merely because “and that I do righteous work” occurs in the text of the verse.
- The claim concerning Islam and righteous action requires a direct citation from the source attributed to “Islam and Humanity” that mentions the verse or explicitly adduces it.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is used to affirm that righteous action is coupled with Islam, and to show that kurh can convey the meaning of hardship rather than mere aversion.
Axes
- Human and ethical
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- Righteous action: 2
- Hardship: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It connects the value of righteous action with the expansion of the linguistic meaning of kurh to include hardship.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 1
- Context: 1
Instances of Use
- Islam and Humanity: He cites it to argue that righteous action, such as dutifulness toward one’s parents, is coupled with Islam rather than with ritual faith.
- Concept: Righteous action
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “{ … and that I do righteous work that pleases You … and indeed I am among the Muslims } (Al-Ahqaf 15)”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 157: He cites it to argue that kurh also means hardship, not merely aversion.
- Concept: Hardship
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual citation: “And in the sense of hardship comes His—exalted be He—saying: {And We have enjoined upon the human being goodness toward his parents; his mother carried him with hardship…}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.