Al-Ma'idah 1

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This axis brings together 6 instances of this verse’s use in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

Text of the Verse as Cited

O you who believe, fulfill your contracts

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Shahrur employ the opening of Al-Ma’idah 1: “O you who believe, fulfill your contracts”?

Shahrur employs the verse to establish the obligation to fulfill contracts: for him, a contract is a voluntary agreement between two or more parties, containing mutually agreed conditions that each party is bound to fulfill. He gives the constitution as an example of a contract between the authority and the people.

Shahrur defines a contract as a voluntary agreement between two parties or more concerning a matter, connected to mutually agreed conditions, and takes the verse as evidence of each party’s obligation to fulfill those conditions. Shahrur cites the constitution as an example of a contract, as the highest contract in society between the authority and the people.

Citation and Location

Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation — p. 66.

Limits of the Reading

  • This documentation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse in defining the contract and fulfilling it; the accompanying citation does not establish that the verse serves for him as an entry point for determining the meaning of “the cattle of livestock” or the rulings of permissibility.
  • The example of the constitution is one Shahrur offers to apply the concept of contract; it is not an exegetical elaboration of all the verse’s terms or rulings.
  • The occurrence of the verse within a list of verses is insufficient to establish its classification by Shahrur among “ethical ideals” unless the documented passage explicitly states this classification.

Continue From Here

Brief Reading

In Shahrur, the verse is used to establish the fulfillment of contracts and to serve as an entry point for determining the meaning of the cattle of livestock and permissibility.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Human and ethical
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Cattle of livestock: 3
  • Contract: 3
  • Contracts: 2
  • Permissibility: 2

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It is connected to contracts and to the original permissibility prior to limited prohibition.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Support: 3
  • Foundation: 3

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

  • Fulfillment of contracts
  • The original permissibility of livestock
  • Its presence is clear in the meaning of contract

Instances of Use

  • Islam and Faith, p. 23: He uses it to establish that fulfilling contracts is among the ethical ideals included within Islam.
    • Concept: contracts
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual citation: “- {O you who believe, fulfill your contracts…} (Al-Ma’idah 1).”
  • Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2, p. 49: He cites it among several examples in order to begin defining “the cattle of livestock” after completing his definition of livestock.
    • Concept: cattle of livestock
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual citation: “{… Permitted to you are the cattle of livestock …} (Al-Ma’idah 1)”
  • Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2, p. 49: He makes it one of the principal passages from which he will define the meaning of “the cattle of livestock” as a particular type of domesticated animal.
    • Concept: cattle of livestock
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual citation: “1 - {… Permitted to you are the cattle of livestock, except what is recited to you …} (Al-Ma’idah 1).”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 390: He employs it together with Qur’an 6:145 to show that the original principle is permissibility and that prohibition occurs within narrow, specified limits.
    • Concept: permissibility
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual citation: “– {… Permitted to you are the cattle of livestock, except what is recited to you …} (Al-Ma’idah 1)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 294: He builds on it to define a contract as a binding voluntary agreement between two or more parties.
    • Concept: contract
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual citation: “For His saying—Exalted is He—: {O you who believe, fulfill your contracts} (Al-Ma’idah 1).”
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 66: He uses it as a foundation for understanding the contract as a mutual commitment between two parties that must be fulfilled.
    • Concept: contract
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual citation: “And every contract is an obligation between two parties … according to His saying, Exalted is He: {O you who believe, fulfill your contracts…} (Al-Ma’idah 1).”

This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas