This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The text of the verse as cited
And We certainly gave Abraham his right guidance beforehand, and We were knowing of him.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s statement, “And We certainly gave Abraham his right guidance beforehand, and We were knowing of him,” in his discussion of Abraham?
Shahrur reads the verse as evidence that Abraham was granted prior “right guidance,” which, in his view, enabled him to pursue a path of rational inquiry into God. He defines this path as inductive and inferential: it begins with the senses, passes through doubt, and ends in faith. For him, the verse is not merely an account of Abraham’s righteousness, but an entry point for presenting an epistemological method that he attributes to him.
Shahrur uses the verse as evidence that God granted Abraham his “right guidance” before the stage of inquiry that Shahrur presents. Shahrur interprets this guidance as a “sound inductive method” and describes Abraham’s method as inferential, moving “from the senses to thought and from doubt to faith.”
Citation and location
The State and Society — p. 184.
Limits of the reading
- The verse, taken on its own, affirms that Abraham was given his right guidance, but does not describe the steps of an inductive method or a transition from the senses to thought; Shahrur adds these details in the context of his reading.
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse in constructing his conception of Abraham’s search for God, but it alone is insufficient to establish all the other historical or theoretical links that Shahrur presents in the paragraph, such as interpreting the “words” as the stars, the sun, and the moon.
- This reading is not presented as the verse’s only meaning, but as a particular deployment by Shahrur.
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Brief reading
The verse is cited to show that Abraham had previously attained maturity and an inferential method in the search for God and hanifism.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Abraham’s maturity: 3
Its place in the network of concepts
It supports the image of Abraham as a model of sound reason before revelation.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
Instances of use
- The State and Society, p. 184: He makes it evidence that Abraham possessed maturity and a sound inferential method in his search for God.
- Concept: Abraham’s maturity
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “It came while he was wavering between doubt and certainty, mentioned in all its details in the Wise Revelation … as in His—exalted be He—saying: {And We certainly gave Abraham his right guidance beforehand …} (The Prophets 51).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 409: He makes it evidence of Abraham’s precedence in recognizing hanifism before revelation, rather than merely his receiving a later message.
- Concept: Abraham’s maturity
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “{… And We certainly gave Abraham his right guidance beforehand, and We were knowing of him} (The Prophets 51).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.