This entry brings together 2 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
God does not hold you accountable for idle words in your oaths, but He holds you accountable for the oaths you have bound
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 5:89 in interpreting oaths and release from them?
Shahrur employs the opening of the verse to distinguish between idle oaths and binding oaths for which one is held accountable. He reads what follows from a binding oath as a means of release from an oath that has placed a person in difficulty, especially if they swore to refrain from something permissible and then did it.
Shahrur cites Qur’an 5:89 to argue that accountability does not concern idle oaths, but rather oaths that have been bound. He interprets release from an oath as a lawful means out for one who swore to refrain from a permissible act and then performed it, connecting this meaning to the verse’s use of the terms idle words and binding of oaths.
Evidence and Location
Islam and Faith — p. 49.
Limits of the Reading
- The direct evidence from the book Islam and Faith establishes Shahrur’s reading of the verse in the context of release from an oath, but does not explain in detail the practical criterion for distinguishing an idle oath from a binding oath.
- The occurrence of “freeing a slave” in the text of the verse, or its inclusion in a quotation in The State and Society, is insufficient to support a broader claim about Shahrur’s conception of the legislative direction concerning slavery; the attached evidence does not explain this connection.
- No interpretive link should be established between the verse and the subject of equality or legal accountability on the basis of the second evidence, because it cites the verse within a broader context without indicating that this is its specific interpretive meaning for Shahrur.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
For him, the verse indicates the difference between an idle oath and a binding oath, and it also supports the direction of legislation toward freeing slaves.
Axes
- Legislative
- Political and social
Related Concepts
- binding: 2
- freeing a slave: 2
- oath: 1
- expiation: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It connects the regulation of individual commitment with a social trajectory toward ending slavery.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 2
Instances of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 49: He cites it to clarify the difference between an idle oath and a binding oath, which entails release and obligation.
- Concept: binding
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “{God does not hold you accountable for idle words in your oaths…} (Al-Ma’idah 89).”
- The State and Society, p. 259: He employs it together with other verses to establish that Qur’anic legislation moves toward ending slavery through expiations and manumission.
- Concept: freeing a slave
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “- {God does not hold you accountable for idle words in your oaths … or freeing a slave …} (Al-Ma’idah 89).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.