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
“And I breathed into him of My spirit”
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur read God’s saying, “And I breathed into him of My spirit,” in Al-Hijr 29, and what understanding of the human being does he build upon it?
Shahrur reads the verse as indicating the “breathing of the spirit,” which, in his conception, represents a qualitative transition from the human creature to the rational, conscious human being. He connects this transformation with the emergence of knowledge and legislation, along with the freedom, conscious history, and social organization associated with them. This is his own interpretive reading; the verse itself mentions fashioning, breathing, and the command to prostrate, but does not elaborate a definition of the spirit or explicitly make knowledge and legislation consequences stated in the text of the verse.
Shahrur employs Al-Hijr 29 to maintain that the human being was a human creature and then became a rational, conscious being through the breathing of the spirit into him.
Evidence and Location
A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation — p. 59.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence establishes the attribution of this conception to Shahrur; it does not establish that the verse itself defines the spirit as knowledge or legislation.
- Shahrur’s connection between the breathing of the spirit and vicegerency should not be turned into a direct lexical indication in Al-Hijr 29; vicegerency is mentioned in the evidence through a reference to Al-Baqarah 30.
- The cited verse does not provide details about the stages of human history or all the civilizational consequences that Shahrur mentions; these are examples and inferences within his reading.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur regards it as the basis for the transformation from a human creature into a human person, and thus as the source of consciousness, knowledge, and legislation.
Axes
- Faith-based
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Breathing of the spirit: 2
- Spirit: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It occupies a central place in the network of spirit, consciousness, and the beginning of humanity.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 2
Instances of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 94: He makes it the basis of the transformation from a human creature into a human person, and thus the source of knowledge and legislation.
- Concept: Breathing of the spirit
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “… as indicated by God’s saying, {And I breathed into him of My spirit…} (Al-Hijr 29, p. 72).”
- A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 59: He uses it to connect the spirit with consciousness, knowledge, and legislation, rather than with bodily matter.
- Concept: Spirit
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “He became a rational, conscious being through the breathing of the spirit into him, in accordance with God’s saying: {So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My spirit …} (Al-Hijr 29).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for constructing the atlas.