Al-A'raf 94

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This locus gathers 1 instance 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

{And We did not send a prophet to any town without afflicting its people with hardship and adversity, so that they might supplicate}

Reader’s answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Al-A’raf 94 in his discussion of affliction, messengers, and social change?

Shahrur employs the verse within a group of verses about earlier towns to argue that the affliction of hardship and adversity occurs, in his reading, after prophets have been sent, warnings have been given, and the community has rejected the call; he describes this as a direct divine intervention that comes when “internal dialectic” is no longer effective in changing the consciousness of society. The verse itself mentions the infliction of hardship and adversity following the sending of a prophet, and explicitly states that its purpose is “so that they might supplicate.”

The verse links the sending of a prophet to a town with the affliction of its people by hardship and adversity, and presents supplication as the purpose of this affliction. Shahrur places the verse in the context of earlier nations that disbelieved in monotheism and in their messengers, and makes severe punishment subsequent to the exhaustion of the efficacy of warning and calling. Shahrur calls this process “external dialectic,” that is, direct divine intervention through punishment, as opposed to “internal dialectic,” represented by the sending of warners and prophets.

Citation and location

The State and Society — p. 84.

Limits of the reading

  • The citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse within the context of his discussion of denying towns, warning, and punishment, but it does not provide an independent proof for generalizing this rule to all historical or social events.
  • The phrase “they reconsider” is not wording quoted from Shahrur in the citation; closer to the text of the verse and to his quotation is “so that they might supplicate.”
  • The citation does not establish that hardship and adversity are synonymous with destruction; in his presentation, Shahrur distinguishes between affliction by them and the fate of destruction after disbelief persists and internal dialectic is no longer possible.

Continue from here

Brief reading

He cites it to argue that affliction comes after the sending of the prophet, so that the people of the town may supplicate and reconsider.

Themes

  • Political and social
  • Faith-related
  • Supplication: 2
  • Affliction: 1
  • Town: 1

Its place in the network of concepts

It is connected through the relationship of trial to the possibility of return and supplication.

Role of the verse in the argument

  • Support: 1

Instances of use

  • The State and Society, p. 84: He cites it to argue that affliction comes after the sending of the prophet, so that the people of the town may supplicate and reconsider.
    • Concept: Supplication
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “{And We did not send a prophet to any town without afflicting its people with hardship and adversity, so that they might supplicate}”

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas