This axis brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
Or did We create the angels female?
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, “Or did We create the angels female?”
Shahrur employs the verse as a Qur’anic repudiation of those who believed that the angels were female, since they did not witness their creation. In his interpretation, he connects this belief to people’s conception of angels in female form.
Shahrur says that the verse rebukes people’s belief that the angels are female, based on its wording, which asks: did they witness the creation of the angels as females? Shahrur holds that the conception of angels in the form of females arose, in his account, from their being sent embodied in female form, after which this conception remained among people.
Evidence and Location
Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 130.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence establishes this use in the context of Shahrur’s discussion of the conception of angels as female, but it does not provide independent proof here for his explanation of the origin of this conception.
- The excerpt does not establish that Shahrur makes the verse a general ruling on all questions of sex or femininity; its specific subject is the attribution of femininity to the angels.
- The phrase “ancient popular conceptions” is broader than the wording of the evidence; more precisely, it should be said: people’s belief that the angels are female, as presented by Shahrur.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is employed to affirm the rejection of attributing femininity to the angels in ancient popular conceptions.
Axes
- Faith
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- Angels: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It contributes to deconstructing a traditional conception through a recalibration of meaning.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Critique of tradition: 1
Usage Loci
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 130–131: He employs it to affirm the rejection of attributing femininity to the angels in ancient popular conceptions.
- Concept: angels
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “{ Or did We create the angels female while they were witnesses? } (Al-Saffat 150).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.