This axis 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.
Text of the verse as cited
He knows what is in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what you conceal and what you declare; and God is Knowing of what is within the breasts.
Reader’s answer
Question
Where does Shahrur cite Al-Taghabun 4, what meaning does he derive from it, and what function does it serve in his argument?
Shahrur cites the verse in Islam and Faith (p. 248), in a reading that considers it together with Al Imran 29 in order to understand the verse on accountability for what is within the self. He takes it as evidence that God’s knowledge is connected, continuously and instantaneously, to what a person conceals and declares, just as it is to what is in the heavens and the earth.
Shahrur cites Al-Taghabun 4 alongside Al Imran 29 in the context of interpreting the verse on accountability for what is within the self, rather than as a verse independent of this line of argument. He understands the form “He knows” in the verse to indicate continuous and instantaneous divine knowledge of what a person conceals and declares, and links it to God’s knowledge of what is in the heavens and the earth. The verse’s function in his argument is to support the claim that a person’s mere thought of something falls within God’s knowledge at that very moment.
Evidence and location
Islam and Faith — p. 248.
Limits of the reading
- The evidence does not state that the terms of the verse are synonymous or non-synonymous with the terms of another verse.
- The evidence links the verse to Al Imran 29 and to the verse on accountability within the context of Shahrur’s reasoning, but does not provide an independent, detailed explanation here of the meaning of each term in Al-Taghabun 4.
- The description of the breast as the brain is attributed to Shahrur in this passage; it does not entail generalizing this interpretation beyond its context without additional evidence.
Continue from here
Brief reading
The verse affirms that God’s knowledge reaches what stirs within breasts just as it reaches what is outwardly manifest.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Human and ethical
Related concepts
- That which is within the breasts: 3
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to the concept of knowledge of the human interior and its not being hidden.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
Instances of use
- Islam and Faith, pp. 248–249: He uses it to affirm that God’s knowledge encompasses a person’s thoughts and ideas just as it encompasses the heavens and the earth.
- Concept: that which is within the breasts
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “- {He knows what is in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what you conceal and what you declare…} (Al-Taghabun 4).”
- Islam and Faith, p. 249: He joins it to Al Imran 29 to affirm that the breast is the locus of thought and that God knows what is concealed and declared, and what stirs within the inner selves.
- Concept: that which is within the breasts
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “- {He knows what is in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what you conceal and what you declare…} (Al-Taghabun 4).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.