This entry brings together 3 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
And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I answer the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be rightly guided.
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Al-Baqarah 186 in his discussion of supplication and collective religiosity?
Shahrur employs the verse to support the idea that supplication directed to God and His response to it occur at the individual level: “the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.” He links this to each person’s responsibility for himself or herself and to coming to God individually. The available evidence clearly establishes this use, but the excerpt itself does not provide a direct elaboration of rulings on rituals or a specific formulation prohibiting collective supplication.
Shahrur reads Al-Baqarah 186, in the context of his discussion, as indicating that supplication to God and His response to it are individual, drawing on the wording “the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.” He links this use to the principle of individual responsibility and associates it with Maryam 80 and 95, which mention coming to God individually.
Evidence and location
The State and Society — p. 213.
Limits of the reading
- The two excerpts from Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence address Al-Baqarah 223 and the principles for dealing with occasions of revelation; they do not provide evidence connected to Al-Baqarah 186 or to the claim of individual supplication.
- Describing divine nearness as “nearness of accompaniment” is not part of Shahrur’s explicit use in the available evidence; the evidence focuses on the individual nature of supplication and response.
- The claim that Shahrur “rejects collective supplication in rituals” requires evidence explicitly stating this rejection or demonstrating its application; the current excerpt does not establish it in detail.
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Brief reading
The verse is read as indicating that divine nearness here is a nearness of response and accompaniment, and that its address is directed to the individual supplicant.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Human and ethical
Related concepts
- Nearness: 3
- Individual supplication: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It is connected to the idea of direct response and to the critique of collective supplication in rituals.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 2
- Foundation: 1
Instances of use
- The State and Society, p. 213: He builds on the verse to argue that the divine response is to the individual supplicant, not to the group, and therefore rejects collective supplication in rituals.
- Concept: Individual supplication
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual evidence: “For God responds to supplication only individually … as He—exalted is He—says: ‘And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I answer the supplication of the supplicant when he calls upon Me …’ (Al-Baqarah 186).”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 109: He cites it to explain the use of nearness in the sense of accompaniment/response, rather than only in a spatial sense.
- Concept: Nearness
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “— { And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near } (Al-Baqarah 186).”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 110: He cites it as an example of the use of nearness to bring close what is presumed distant.
- Concept: Nearness
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “{ And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near } (Al-Baqarah 186).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.