This axis 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.
The Verse Text as Cited
AND THIS IS A BLESSED BOOK WHICH WE HAVE SENT DOWN, CONFIRMING WHAT CAME BEFORE IT …
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Al-An’am 92 in his discussion of villages and cities?
Shahrur employs the verse as part of his argument that the Muhammadan mission represented, in his reading, the end of the “age of villages” and the beginning of the “age of cities.” He links the mention of “the Mother of Cities and those around it” to the formation of a broader political society under a single authority, rather than merely to specifying the location of the warning.
Shahrur holds that the Muhammadan mission marked the end of the age of villages and the beginning of the age of cities, and he cites Al-An’am 92 in this conception when mentioning “the Mother of Cities and those around it.” In the same passage, Shahrur explains his transition from villages to cities through the formation of “one people under one authority” after the Messenger gathered together the scattered villages, and he presents the verse as evidence immediately following this connection.
Evidence and Location
The State and Society — p. 136.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence establishes that Shahrur cites the verse within his argument about the end of the age of villages and the beginning of the age of cities, but the excerpt does not provide a detailed linguistic interpretation of the verse’s wording itself.
- The idea of the historical transformation from villages to cities is Shahrur’s interpretive construction, not a meaning attributable to the text of the verse alone.
- The quotation cuts off at the beginning of the verse; therefore, no further detail may be attributed to the cited passage beyond what is visible.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur links the sending down of the Book to the mission of warning the Mother of Cities and those around it, within his account of the transition from villages to the city.
Axes
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Messengerly warning: 2
- Mother of Cities: 1
- Villages: 1
- City: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It belongs to a historical-social reading of the course of the message and its initial sphere.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 1
Instances of Use
- The State and Society, p. 136: He uses it to link the sending down of the Book to the mission of warning the Mother of Cities and those around it, within his transition from villages to the city.
- Concept: Messengerly warning
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “As stated in His—exalted be He—saying: {AND THIS IS A BLESSED BOOK WHICH WE HAVE SENT DOWN …} (Al-An’am 92), this verse informs us that the Messenger (PBUH) was sent to warn the Mother of Cities.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.