Al-Ma'arij 30

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This locus 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

Except with their spouses or those whom their right hands possess, for then they are not blameworthy.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur deploy the Qur’anic statement, “Except with their spouses or those whom their right hands possess, for then they are not blameworthy,” in his discussion of the meaning of milk al-yamin?

Shahrur uses the verse to object to the reduction of “those whom their right hands possess” to slavery and concubines, as historically occurred. He says that this understanding led, in practical application, to permitting a man to have intercourse with his female slave while not permitting an equivalent for a woman with her male slave. He therefore holds that the abolition of slavery requires a search for a contemporary signification of the term, so that the verses on milk al-yamin are not treated as historically abrogated. He mentions misyar marriage as a possibility that it may be a contemporary form of milk al-yamin, not as a conclusion decisively established by the evidence.

Shahrur presents the predominant historical understanding of milk al-yamin as slavery and servitude, and states that his study of it contradicts this conventional view. He links Al-Ma’arij 30 to the problem of historically asymmetrical sexual application: permitting a man to have intercourse with his female slave while preventing a woman from engaging in an equivalent act with her male slave. Shahrur holds that the abolition of the system of slavery makes it necessary to seek a contemporary signification for milk al-yamin, so that its verses are not regarded as historically abrogated. Shahrur’s proposal of misyar marriage as a possible contemporary form of milk al-yamin is expressed as a possibility—“it may be considered”—rather than as a settled definition of the term.

Evidence and Location

Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 295.

Limits of the Reading

  • The evidence establishes Shahrur’s presentation of his reading and his critique of historical application; it does not establish the interpretive or juridical correctness of this reading.
  • The evidence does not state that the verse itself contains an explicit ruling on misyar marriage; rather, Shahrur presents it as a possibility for a contemporary meaning.
  • The other evidence cites al-Tabari’s interpretation of verse 6 of Al-Mu’minun, not Al-Ma’arij 30; it should therefore not be treated here as independent evidence for a claim concerning the verse of Al-Ma’arij.

Continue From Here

Brief Reading

The verse appears within Shahrur’s critique of the traditional interpretation that confined it to sexual slavery and linked it to a historically male-centered application.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Political and social
  • Concubines: 2
  • Milk al-yamin: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It belongs to the network of critique of tradition concerning milk al-yamin and the history of its use.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Critique of tradition: 2

Instances of Use

  • State and Society, p. 268: He cites the interpretation that explains it as concubines in order to continue his critique of the traditional confinement of the term to sexual slavery.
    • Concept: Concubines
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “According to al-Tabari: ‘… or those whom their right hands possess from among concubines.’”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: Concubines
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 295: He mentions it to argue that historical application was one-sidedly male-centered when it permitted a man to have intercourse with his female slave and prohibited the reverse.
    • Concept: Milk al-yamin
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “{ Except with their spouses or those whom their right hands possess } (Al-Ma’arij 30)”

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas