This locus brings together two 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
Recite to them in truth the account of Adam’s two sons, when they offered a sacrifice …
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Qur’an 5:27 in his discussion of offerings and God-consciousness?
Shahrur employs the verse as evidence that God-consciousness, in the primitive form he portrays of drawing near to God, was not an abstract concept; rather, it appeared in the material, tangible acceptance or non-acceptance of the offering. He places the offering among what he considers the simplest forms of worship and drawing near in the earliest human communities.
Shahrur cites Qur’an 5:27 after discussing the presentation of offerings as among the simplest forms of drawing near to and worshipping God. He understands from the verse that the concept of God-consciousness was not abstract in this context, but was embodied in the material, tangible acceptance of the offering.
Evidence and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 268.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse within his conception of offerings and God-consciousness, but it does not by itself demonstrate that the verse establishes a specific history of human worship.
- The excerpt does not explain how the “material, tangible acceptance” occurred, nor does it provide further evidence for it.
- This passage should not be expanded into the claim that every act of worship or every religious sacrifice is necessarily primitive in form; the evidence addresses the offering within the specific framework constructed by Shahrur.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur makes it an example of primitive material worship, in which the meaning of God-consciousness is embodied through the offering.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Human and ethical
Related Concepts
- Offering: 2
- Worship: 1
- God-consciousness: 1
- Children of Adam: 1
- Humanization: 1
- Adam: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It links the offering to the beginnings of human worship.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Example: 1
- Distinction: 1
Contexts of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, pp. 268–269: He presents it as an example of primitive material worship and of the embodiment of God-consciousness in the sensibly accepted offering.
- Concept: offering
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual evidence: “And concerning this, He, exalted be He, said: {Recite to them the account of Adam’s two sons … when they offered a sacrifice …}”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 268: He interprets Adam’s two sons here as not Adam’s direct biological sons, but rather human beings after humanization—that is, children of Adam in the civilizational sense.
- Concept: children of Adam
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual evidence: “The Exalted One has affirmed that this event occurred after Adam by His saying: {Recite to them in truth the account of Adam’s two sons…}”
- Contrasting traditional reading: The intended referents are not Adam’s direct biological sons.
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.