This locus 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.
The Text of the Verse as Cited
And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord; the Record shall be laid open; the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought forth; and judgment shall be rendered among them in truth, and they shall not be wronged.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Qur’an 39:69 to interpret “the witnesses” as epistemic witnesses rather than those killed in battle?
Shahrur reads the appearance of “the prophets and the witnesses” in the scene of eschatological judgment as referring to persons who disclosed to people knowledge that had been absent from them; he therefore interprets the witnesses here as discoverers and scholars, rather than as those killed in combat.
Shahrur links Qur’an 39:69 to his rejection of defining the martyr as merely someone killed in battle, construing the “witnesses” mentioned alongside the prophets as persons who bore public witness to knowledge they had discovered and then disclosed to people.
Source and Location
Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 61.
Limits of the Reading
- This establishes Shahrur’s reading of the verse in this passage; it does not establish that the term “witnesses” cannot bear another exegetical reading.
- The cited passage offers examples of discoverers, but it does not explain a detailed criterion distinguishing every scholar or discoverer who falls under this description.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is used to connect witnessing with the eschatological scene, and then to broaden its meaning to include epistemic witnesses who disclose knowledge that had been unseen.
Axes
- Faith
- Narrative and Historical
Related Concepts
- Witnesses: 2
- Eschatological scene: 2
- Epistemic witnesses: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It connects to the network of witnessing, eschatological transformation, and discovered knowledge.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Context: 2
- Grounding: 1
Instances of Use
- Islam and Humanity: He uses it in his linguistic inquiry to distinguish between the status of the witnesses and that of those who testify, proceeding from the root derivation.
- Concept: witnesses
- Function of the verse here: context
- Textual citation: “And in His saying, exalted be He: { And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord … and the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought forth … } (Al-Zumar 69).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 208: He includes it among the verses of cosmic transformation to affirm that the eschatological scene occurs after the nature of the earth and heavens has changed.
- Concept: eschatological scene
- Function of the verse here: context
- Textual citation: “- {And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord…} (Al-Zumar 69).”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 61: He interprets the witnesses here as scholarly discoverers who disclosed knowledge that had been unseen by people.
- Concept: epistemic witnesses
- Function of the verse here: grounding
- Textual citation: “{And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord … and the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought forth …} (Al-Zumar 69).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.