Al-Isra 36

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

Text of the Verse as Cited

Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read the Qur’anic statement, “Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge”?

Shahrur employs the verse to establish that just speech is not based on whim and emotion, but rather on “objective material evidence.” He connects this to the accountability of hearing, sight, and the fuʾād, and elsewhere presents the fuʾād as particularized perception arising directly from the senses and constituting raw material for thought.

Shahrur reads the verse as an explanation of the command to speak justly: speech should be built on objective material evidence, not on whims and emotions.

Citation and Location

The Book and the Qur’an — p. 463.

Limits of the Reading

  • The citation from Islam and Faith on p. 23 includes the verse in a list of verses without explaining its import; it is therefore insufficient on its own to establish the attribution of a detailed interpretation to Shahrur.
  • The description of the fuʾād as a stage of sensory perception is Shahrur’s theoretical definition, rather than a neutral linguistic account or a unanimously accepted interpretation of the Qur’anic term.
  • The evidence does not establish that, for Shahrur, the verse is a comprehensive rule for every form of modern knowledge; what is specifically established is its connection to just speech and objective evidence, as well as to hearing, sight, and the fuʾād.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

The verse establishes a principle of responsible knowledge based on hearing, sight, and the fuʾād, rather than speaking without knowledge.

Axes

  • Methodological
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Knowledge: 2
  • Meddlesomeness: 2
  • Sources of knowledge: 2
  • Testimony and knowledge: 2
  • Fuʾād: 2

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It is connected to the construction of his view of the sources of knowledge and the ethics of speech and testimony.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Support: 2
  • Foundation: 2
  • Context: 1

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

  • Responsible knowledge
  • Sources of knowledge and speech
  • Its presence in testimony and truthfulness

Instances of Use

  • Islam and Faith, p. 23: He uses it to prohibit speaking without knowledge and to connect it to the value of epistemic truthfulness.
    • Concept: Knowledge
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “- {Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge…} (Al-Isra 36).”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 48: He employs it to expand the meaning of wisdom to include the ethics of conduct and refraining from what does not concern a person.
    • Concept: Meddlesomeness
    • Function of the verse here: Context
    • Textual citation: “and by abandoning meddlesomeness and intervening in what does not concern one (Al-Isra 36)”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 228: He makes it a point of departure for connecting human knowledge with hearing, sight, and then the fuʾād, as responsible means of perception.
    • Concept: Sources of knowledge
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual citation: “{Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight, and the fuʾād—each of these will be called to account} (Al-Isra 36).”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 463: He interprets it as an explanation of the eighth commandment—that speech and testimony must be based on knowledge and data, rather than conjecture.
    • Concept: Testimony and knowledge
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual citation: “{Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge…} This verse is an explanation of the eighth commandment.”
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 60: He employs it to connect the fuʾād with direct sensory perception, responsible for primary knowledge.
    • Concept: Fuʾād
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “The fuʾād … in accordance with His saying, Exalted be He: {Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge …} (Al-Isra 36).”

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

Graph View

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas