This axis 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
He has supplied you with livestock and banīn
The Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur read the term “banīn” in the Qur’anic statement, “He has supplied you with livestock and banīn”?
Shahrur reads “banīn” in this verse as meaning buildings and construction, rather than male offspring. He treats its pairing with livestock as contextual evidence that the verse concerns humanity’s transition to settlement and building, in which livestock were associated with labor, agriculture, and subsistence. This is his own distinctive reading, presented by the evidence as an interpretation based on the thematic unity of the two terms.
Shahrur interprets “banīn” in The Poets 133 as buildings, connecting the term to “banan” in the Arabic language rather than to banīn in the sense of male children. He employs the pairing of livestock and banīn to argue that the subject of the verse is building and human settlement, because the domestication of livestock, in his historical conception, was associated with agriculture, labor, and the transition from caves and hunting to a broader pattern of settlement.
Evidence and Location
the Book and the Qur’an — p. 504.
Limits of the Reading
- This page describes Shahrur’s reading as presented in the evidence; it does not by itself settle the linguistic meaning of the term in the verse.
- The connection between livestock and construction forms part of his historical conception of human settlement; it is not a conclusion demonstrated by the evidence through independent historical sources.
- The other evidence from “Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2” compares livestock in the verse with wealth in Noah’s verse, but does not itself establish the interpretation of “banīn” as buildings; it is therefore not taken as evidence for this claim.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is read linguistically in a way that distinguishes the meaning of banīn as derived from building from the common understanding of offspring.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Political and social
Related Concepts
- Building: 2
- Banīn: 2
- Livestock: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to constructing a different signification for the two terms and extending it to the meaning of urban development and settlement.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 2
- Distinction: 1
Instances of Use
- Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2, p. 50: He interprets “banīn” here as deriving from “building,” not from male offspring, in order to establish an alternative linguistic reading.
- Concept: Building
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “Banīn may come from the verb banana, and it may come from the verb banā. That is, banīn in the Qur’anic statement {He has supplied you with livestock and banīn} (The Poets 133).”
- Corresponding traditional reading: Male children
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 504: He uses it to connect banīn with building, shelter, and dwelling, rather than merely with male children.
- Concept: Banīn
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “It has come with this literal meaning in the Qur’anic statement {He has supplied you with livestock and banīn} (The Poets 133).”
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 520: He uses it to connect livestock with urban settlement and the transition from hunting to agriculture and construction.
- Concept: Livestock
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “This is clear in the Qur’anic statement {He has supplied you with livestock and banīn}.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.