Al-Nahl 116

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This axis brings together 4 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

The Text of the Verse as Cited

And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe, “This is lawful and this is forbidden”…

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read the divine statement: “And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe, ‘This is lawful and this is forbidden’”?

Shahrur reads the verse as a prohibition against attributing the declaring of things lawful and forbidden to God without knowledge: adding prohibitions that God has not prohibited, or declaring lawful what He has prohibited, falls for him under the “speaking falsely about God” and the “fabrication” mentioned in the verse. Yet he does not infer the abolition of every human role; rather, he distinguishes between instituting a prohibition attributed to God, which he restricts to God, and human ijtihad in detailing what he regards as the prohibitions contained in the Message and in restricting the exercise of what is lawful.

Shahrur uses Al-Nahl 116 to regard attributing what is lawful and forbidden to God without evidence as speaking falsely about God and fabricating against Him. In Shahrur’s formulation, this use includes adding prohibitions to God’s prohibitions or declaring one of His prohibitions lawful. The cited passage does not present the verse as an absolute denial of human ijtihad; rather, Shahrur identifies a sphere for ijtihad in the “detailing of prohibitions” and in restricting the exercise of what is lawful.

Source and Location

Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation — p. 47.

Limits of the Reading

  • This is an account of Shahrur’s reading as he explicitly states it, not a presentation of the generally agreed exegetical meaning of the verse.
  • The direct evidence available here is from the book Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation; therefore, the same point should not be attributed to Islam and Humanity without textual evidence from it.
  • The formulation “the jurists and everyone who prohibits” is broader than the direct wording in the cited passage; what is directly established is the critique of adding prohibitions to God’s prohibitions or declaring His prohibitions lawful.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

Shahrur uses the verse to deny human beings the right to declare things lawful and forbidden, restricting this right to God alone within a critical reading of the tradition.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Methodological
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Declaring lawful and forbidden: 3
  • Prohibition: 3

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It belongs to a network that regulates the limits of legislation and prevents the addition of prohibitions from outside the text.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Critique of tradition: 4

Instances of Use

  • Islam and Humanity: He employs it to critique the jurists and everyone who declares things forbidden or lawful without direct divine authority.
    • Concept: Declaring lawful and forbidden
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual citation: “{ And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe, ‘This is lawful and this is forbidden’ … } (Al-Nahl 116)”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: Jurists’ views on declaring things forbidden and lawful
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 26: He uses it to deny human beings the right to legislate prohibitions, restricting it to God alone.
    • Concept: Prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual citation: “The Exalted said: {And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe…} (Al-Nahl 116)”
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 47: He employs it to critique those who add prohibitions or declare lawful what God has prohibited without authority.
    • Concept: Declaring lawful and forbidden
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual citation: “Thus, speaking falsely about God is prohibited … because of His saying, Exalted is He: { And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe, ‘This is lawful and this is forbidden’ … } (Al-Nahl 116).”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 126: He employs it to deny human beings the right to add new prohibitions on their own initiative.
    • Concept: Prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual citation: “{ And do not say, as your tongues falsely describe, ‘This is lawful and this is forbidden’ … } (Al-Nahl 116),”

This page is presented within the atlas’s general methodology of atlas construction.

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