This locus brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The Verse Text as Cited
The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. Each believes in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers …
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 2:285 to explain the meaning of obedience?
Shahrur employs the verse to show that the believers’ statement, “We hear and obey,” follows their belief in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers, and that the intended obedience is a response they have chosen to what the Messenger brought from his Lord, rather than compelled submission.
In his reading of the verse, Shahrur connects belief in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers with the phrase “We hear and obey,” regarding it as a declaration of obedience to what the Messenger brought from his Lord. Shahrur interprets obedience as a voluntary stance that cannot occur under coercion, drawing on a linguistic grounding that precedes its application to the verse.
Evidence and Location
The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna — p. 86.
Limits of the Reading
- The excerpt is truncated at its end, but it clearly includes Shahrur’s assertion that “We hear and obey” means choosing to obey what the Messenger brought from his Lord.
- The verse’s mention of belief in books and messengers should not be turned into a detailed claim about the nature of the relationship to previous laws or books without additional evidence.
- The passage presented from the book Islam and Humanity is not evidence supplied here; therefore, no additional details should be attributed to it on this page.
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Brief Reading
The verse is used to affirm belief in messengers and books, while linking obedience to what was sent down to the Messenger.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Faith: 2
- Obedience: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It contributes to defining the relationship between practical faith and responding to revelation.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 2
Instances of Use
- Islam and Humanity: He understands from it that the believers are Muhammad’s followers who believed in him, with belief in the previous messengers and books being required within this faith.
- Concept: Faith
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “{ … and the believers—each believes in God, His angels, His books, and His messengers … } (Al-Baqarah 285)”
- The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 86: He cites it as evidence that obedience is connected with belief in the Messenger and in what was sent down to him, and that believers declare their hearing and obedience to God’s commands through the Messenger.
- Concept: Obedience
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “{The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him…} Al-Baqarah 285… then comes the phrase ‘They said: We hear and obey’… ”
Related Books
- Islam and Humanity
- The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.