This axis brings together 1 instance of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
… while you were embryos in your mothers’ wombs…
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, “while you were embryos in your mothers’ wombs,” in defining the mother and the birth mother?
Shahrur employs the verse as part of his argument that the “mother” is the female in whose womb the embryo is present. In his broader construction, he links this to pregnancy, childbirth, and her being the owner of the ovum, distinguishing between the father’s role in fertilization and the birth mother’s role in fertilization, then pregnancy and childbirth. However, the wording of the verse itself establishes the attribution of embryos to “their mothers’ wombs”; it does not, on its own, establish a complete genetic definition of the mother or a detailed distribution of reproductive roles.
The verse mentions embryos in “their mothers’ wombs,” the expression on which Shahrur relies to connect motherhood with carrying the embryo in the womb. In the same passage, Shahrur concludes that the birth mother is the owner of the ovum and that, after fertilization, she carries the embryo and gives birth to it, thereby becoming a mother; in this conception, he confines the father’s role to the stage of fertilization.
Evidence and Location
Islam and Faith — p. 181.
Limits of the Reading
- Shahrur’s reading should not be reduced to the claim that the mother is only the carrier; he includes, alongside pregnancy and childbirth, her being the owner of the ovum.
- The verse, by itself, does not establish that the father has no genetic connection; the distinction between fertilization, pregnancy, and childbirth is part of Shahrur’s inference presented in the evidence.
- The evidence here does not address medical or legal cases in which the owner of the ovum and the carrier of the embryo may be different persons.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
He cites it as evidence that the mother is the one who carries the embryo in her womb, not the father in the genetic sense.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Human and ethical
Related Concepts
- Motherhood: 2
- Pregnancy: 1
- Embryo: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to defining the meaning of motherhood in Qur’anic usage.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 1
Instances of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 181: He cites it as evidence that the term mother applies to the one who carries the embryo in her womb, not to the father in the genetic sense.
- Concept: Motherhood
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “{… while you were embryos in your mothers’ wombs…} (The Star 32)”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.