Women 64

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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.

The Verse Text as Cited

And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by God’s permission.

Reader’s Answer

Question

Where does the verse occur, how does Shahrur use it to distinguish between the station of messengerhood and the station of prophethood, and what function does it serve in his argument?

The verse occurs in Surat al-Nisaʾ (64). Shahrur employs it to establish that obedience to the Messenger is connected to the station of messengerhood; for, in his view, the purpose of sending is obedience and the regulation of conduct, in contrast to prophethood, which he associates more with believing reports than with obedience.

Shahrur adduces al-Nisaʾ 64 to argue that obedience to the Messenger occurs only from the station of messengerhood. Shahrur interprets the function of messengerhood as directing and regulating human conduct, linking this to the fact that the Messenger was sent to be obeyed. Shahrur distinguishes messengerhood from prophethood in that prophethood requires believing reports more than it requires obedience, whereas obedience pertains to messengerhood.

Citation and Location

The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna — p. 86.

Limits of the Reading

  • The citation establishes this distinction as Shahrur’s formulation in the attached source; it does not provide an independent proof of its validity.
  • The citation does not establish that the verse is used in the book Islam and Humanity, since its attached location is in The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
  • No additional ruling concerning the nature of obedience or the details of rituals is inferred from the citation beyond the stated distinction between the two stations.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

It underpins the idea that obedience pertains to the station of messengerhood, not merely to the prophetic person.

Axes

  • Faith-based
  • Methodological
  • Obedience to the Messenger: 2
  • Messengerhood: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It establishes a boundary between messengerhood and the position of the Messenger.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Support: 1
  • Foundation: 1

Instances of Use

  • Islam and Humanity: He uses it to obligate believers to obey the Messenger regarding what he brought of the message and the rituals.
    • Concept: Obedience to the Messenger
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “{ And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by God’s permission… } (al-Nisaʾ 64)”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 86: He builds on it the claim that the Messenger’s messengerly function is to be obeyed, and that obedience is directed to the station of messengerhood rather than to the prophetic person in an absolute sense.
    • Concept: Messengerhood
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual citation: “{And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by God’s permission…} al-Nisaʾ 64.”

This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.

Graph View

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas