This locus brings together 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
So ask the people of the Remembrance if you do not know
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Shahrur read God’s saying: “So ask the people of the Remembrance if you do not know”?
In the available excerpt, Shahrur defines “the Remembrance” as the Arabic linguistic form through which the Qur’an was made manifest among people, then presents The Prophets 7 as a condition for understanding the verses of the Revelation. On this basis, “the people of the Remembrance” may be understood in his view as those whom one consults in knowing this linguistic form; however, the excerpt does not explicitly establish their final definition, nor does it establish that they are not scholars of transmitted tradition.
Shahrur holds that “the Remembrance” is not the Qur’an itself, but rather one of its attributes, connected to its human, spoken linguistic form in the Arabic tongue. He employs the verse “So ask the people of the Remembrance” in the context of his discussion of the condition for understanding the verses of the Revelation, after establishing the meaning of the Remembrance as an Arabic linguistic form.
Excerpt and location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 49.
Limits of the reading
- The excerpt cuts off at the beginning of Shahrur’s citation of The Prophets 7, so it does not provide his full discussion of “the people of the Remembrance.”
- The definition of the Remembrance as an Arabic form is established in the excerpt; identifying the practical referent of “the people of the Remembrance” requires a more complete passage from the source.
- No direct opposition between “people of the language” and “scholars of transmitted tradition” can be constructed from this excerpt alone, since no explicit negation appears in it.
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Brief reading
Shahrur understands the people of the Remembrance here as people of the Arabic language, not scholars of transmitted tradition, because the Remembrance for him is the Arabic form of the Qur’an.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related concepts
- People of the language: 2
- People of the Remembrance: 1
- Arabic: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It belongs to his linguistic distinction between the significations of terms and the status of those associated with them.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Distinction: 1
Instances of use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 49: He understands the people of the Remembrance as people of the Arabic language, not scholars of transmitted tradition in the traditional sense, because the Remembrance for him is the Arabic form of the Qur’an.
- Concept: people of the language
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual excerpt: “{So ask the people of the Remembrance if you do not know} (The Prophets 7)”
- Corresponding traditional reading: people of the Remembrance = people of the Arabic language
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.