This axis gathers two places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as cited
Shall We make the Muslims like the criminals? * What is the matter with you? How do you judge?
Brief reading
The verse lays the foundation for defining the opposite of Islam in the Qur’an as criminality, that is, cutting oneself off from God and from human values.
Axes
- Faith
- Political and social
Related concepts
- Criminality: 2
- Islam: 1
- Human values: 1
- Justice: 1
- The deficient believer: 1
- The disbeliever: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It forms an axis in constructing the opposition between Islam and criminality.
The role of the verse in the argument
- Foundational: 1
- Critique of the tradition: 1
Instances of use
- Islam and Humanity: He uses it to establish that the Qur’anic term opposite to Islam is criminality, and that the criminal is the one who cuts off his connection to God and to human values.
- Concept: criminality
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: «{ أَفَنَجْعَلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ كَالْمُجْرِمِينَ * مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ } (القلم ٣٥، ٣٦)»
- Islam and Faith, p. 253: He relies on it to criticize the conflation of the deficient believer with the criminal disbeliever, affirming that divine justice distinguishes between them.
- Concept: justice
- Function of the verse here: Critique of the tradition
- Textual evidence: «ومن المستحيل أن يستوي في عدل الله سبحانه المسلم المؤمن المقصّر في أداء الشعائر والمكذب المجرم… {أَفَجْعَلْ الْمُسْلِمِينَ كَالْمُجْرِمِينَ * مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ}»
- Counter-traditional reading: An interpretation that equates the deficient Muslim with the criminal in punishment
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.