Al-An'am 151

5 min read

This axis brings together 5 instances of this verse’s use in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

Text of the verse as cited

And do not kill your children out of poverty…

Reader’s answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 6:151 in interpreting the prohibition of killing children, and what are the limits of this use?

Shahrur employs the verse as part of a list of ethical prohibitions, and gives the phrase “do not kill your children out of poverty” a reading that makes it a prohibition of abortion when the motive is “poverty.” He justifies this by arguing that, after birth, a child falls, in his view, under the general prohibition against killing a soul; he therefore holds that the specification of “children” here addresses the pre-birth condition connected with the parents. Elsewhere, he also links the verse to the idea that the injunctions of al-An’am became “prohibitions” in the Muhammadan messengerhood.

Shahrur presents Qur’an 6:151 among the prohibitions that he describes as belonging to the “straight path,” and he holds that what were injunctions in earlier messengerhoods rose in status in the Muhammadan messengerhood to become prohibitions.

Evidence and location

Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 153.

Limits of the reading

  • The connection between “killing children” and abortion is Shahrur’s own inference in the cited passage, not a statement of the verse’s meaning outside his reading.
  • The available evidence does not support the claim that the verse addresses “killing after birth” in the manner stated in the preceding answer; rather, Shahrur explicitly states the opposite in his justification.
  • Merely listing the verse’s terms is insufficient to ground detailed rulings or interpretations concerning parents or indecencies.
  • No links were created to pages on state legislation or the flexibility of legislation, because the evidence does not directly connect this claim to the verse at this point.

Continue from here

Brief reading

The verse is used to establish ethical and legislative limits concerning parents, killing, abortion, and indecencies.

Axes

  • Human and ethical
  • Legislative
  • Poverty: 2
  • Kindness to parents: 2
  • Abortion: 2
  • Indecencies: 2
  • Prohibitions: 2

Its place in the network of concepts

It is connected to the combination of ethical guidance and specified prohibition in particular cases.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Foundational: 3
  • Supporting: 1
  • Distinguishing: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • Kindness to parents and prohibition
  • Killing children because of poverty
  • Its presence in indecencies and abortion

Atlas pages that refer to this verse

These links gather the pages that draw on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.

Instances of use

  • Islam and the Human Being: It is cited as evidence for the prohibition of killing children after birth out of fear of poverty, and for regarding provision as coming from God.
    • Concept: poverty
    • Function of the verse here: supporting
    • Textual evidence: “{ … AND DO NOT KILL YOUR CHILDREN OUT OF POVERTY … }”
  • The State and Society, p. 45: It presents the verse as a site of ethical foundation for humanity’s transition from natural habit to an ethical awareness that links kindness to parents with monotheism.
    • Concept: kindness to parents
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “Thus, among the injunctions (the Criterion), the injunction {AND SHOW KINDNESS TO PARENTS} came directly after His—exalted is He—saying: {DO NOT ASSOCIATE ANYTHING WITH HIM} (al-An’am 151).”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 456: It makes the verse the text of prohibition specifically concerning abortion due to financial hardship, restricting it to the case of poverty and no other.
    • Concept: abortion
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “God prohibited killing a child in one case only, namely poverty; He, exalted is He, said: {AND DO NOT KILL YOUR CHILDREN OUT OF POVERTY}”
  • A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 49: It uses the verse to show that the prohibition of indecencies in the form “do not approach” concerns acts deliberately intended.
    • Concept: indecencies
    • Function of the verse here: distinguishing
    • Textual evidence: “It is used for matters that we intend with prior determination and awareness, such as indecencies: we do not encounter them unintentionally, but rather seek them out in their places: { … AND DO NOT APPROACH INDECENCIES … } (al-An’am 151).”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 153: It makes the verse an entry point for enumerating the prohibitions in the Revelation and for distinguishing between the stage of injunctions and the stage of prohibition.
    • Concept: prohibitions
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “Then their status was raised in the Muhammadan messengerhood so that they became prohibitions, as in His—exalted is He—saying: {SAY: COME, I WILL RECITE WHAT YOUR LORD HAS PROHIBITED TO YOU}”

This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.

Graph View

Backlinks4

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas