This axis brings together 1 instance 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
Those who disbelieve say, “Why was the Qur’an not sent down to him all at once?” Thus [it was sent] so that We might strengthen your heart through it; and We have recited it in measured sequence.
Reader’s answer
The question
How does Shahrur place Qur’an 25:32 within his argument, and what distinction does he draw from it?
Shahrur reads the verse as an answer to why the Qur’an was not sent down all at once: the beginning was, in his account, a particularized heart-based revelation intended to strengthen the Prophet’s heart, followed by an abstract revelation in successive portions. The verse thus serves, for him, to explain this sequence, rather than to establish that an abstract revelation alone descended from the outset.
Shahrur distinguishes between abstract revelation and heart-based revelation, and regards the beginning of revelation to the Prophet as a particularized heart-based beginning. He relies on Al-Furqan 32 to explain why the Qur’an came not as a single whole: it began by strengthening the Prophet’s heart through a heart-based beginning, and thereafter came in successive portions by the abstract mode.
The citation and its location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 324.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s reading of the verse and its function in ordering the two types of revelation; it does not, here, provide an independent proof for this division.
- The citation does not establish that the verse addresses all stages of revelation or their chronological details beyond the formulation presented by Shahrur.
- His statement should not be reduced to “a merely gradual descent”; the citation makes the beginning a particularized heart-based one before what he calls abstract revelation.
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Brief reading
The verse establishes the idea of gradual revelation, which strengthened the Prophet’s heart and then came in abstract portions.
Axes
- Methodological
- Faith-related
Related concepts
- Measured revelation: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It forms part of Shahrur’s conception of the structure and course of revelation.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Foundational: 1
Instances of use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 324: He makes it the basis for the idea that the Qur’an was sent down gradually, first to strengthen the Prophet’s heart and then to come to him in abstract portions.
- Concept: measured revelation
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual citation: “{And those who disbelieve say, ‘Why was the Qur’an not sent down to him all at once?’ Thus [it was sent] so that We might strengthen your heart through it; and We have recited it in measured sequence} (Al-Furqan 32)”
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.