This thematic entry brings together 1 instance 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
Indeed, those who persecuted believing men and believing women, then did not repent…
Reader’s Answer
Question
Where does the verse occur, what does fitna mean for Shahrur here, and what function does it serve in his argument?
The verse occurs in Surat al-Buruj, verse 10. Shahrur makes it an example of fitna as the practice of a stronger party exerting pressure on a weaker party to compel it to abandon its opinion; he invokes the case of a dictatorial state that arrests a dissenter. Its function is to support his objection to describing the weak person’s protest against the powerful as fitna.
Shahrur links Al-Buruj 10 to the example of a dictatorial state that arrests those who disagree with it in opinion in order to pressure them into abandoning their views. Here, Shahrur defines fitna as an act that proceeds fundamentally from a strong party toward a weaker one, rather than the mere occurrence of disagreement or protest. In his argument, the verse functions as an example supporting his distinction between the powerful’s coercion of the weak, which he considers fitna, and the weak person’s protest against the powerful, to which he denies this description.
Citation and Location
The Contemporary Reading Guide to the Wise Revelation — p. 52.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation does not provide a detailed interpretation of all the verse’s terms or specify its historical context.
- The citation does not establish that fitna generally means silencing or directing people; the specific example is pressure on a dissenter to abandon their opinion.
- This entry presents Shahrur’s use of the verse in constructing his distinction; by itself, it does not establish a general ruling on every use of the term fitna in the Qur’an.
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Brief Reading
The verse is used as an example of fitna when coercion becomes a means of silencing opinion and directing people.
Themes
- Political and social
Related Concepts
- Fitna: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the concept of fitna as an imbalance in the relationship between strength and weakness.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Example: 1
Places of Use
- The Contemporary Reading Guide to the Wise Revelation, p. 52: He uses it as an example of political fitna, when the powerful coerces the weak to turn them away from their opinion.
- Concept: fitna
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual citation: “The dictatorial state … does so only in order to subject him to fitna away from his views: { Indeed, those who persecuted the believers … } (Al-Buruj 10).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.