Women 7

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This axis brings together 3 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

Men shall have a share of what parents and close relatives leave behind, and women shall have a share of what parents and close relatives leave behind, whether it be little or much—a prescribed share.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Shahrur read God’s saying, “Men shall have a share … and women shall have a share,” in matters of bequest and inheritance?

Shahrur uses the verse to establish two principles: that women have a share in what parents and close relatives leave behind, and that beneficiaries should not be discriminated against on account of being male or female. In his particular reading, he connects the expression “a prescribed share” to the bequest: the share in it is determined by the testator, unlike the “portion” in inheritance. He also cites the verse in criticizing the practical deprivation of daughters of their inheritance rights.

Shahrur reads the verse among the “verses on bequest” and infers from it that discrimination among beneficiaries on the basis of maleness and femaleness should be avoided. Shahrur distinguishes between the “share” in a bequest, which he says is determined by the testator, and the “portion” in inheritance; this is his own interpretive distinction, which the verse alone does not explicitly state in the passage presented.

Evidence and Location

Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 242.

Limits of the Reading

  • The passage does not establish that the verse itself provides a complete detailed account of inheritance shares or their amounts.
  • Linking the verse to bequest, and the terminological distinction between “share” and “portion,” are part of Shahrur’s interpretive construction in the passage, rather than a self-sufficient linguistic conclusion from the wording of the verse.
  • The citation of the verse concerning the practical deprivation of daughters should not be turned into a claim that the verse alone settles all questions of exclusion and the division of prescribed inheritance shares.

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Brief Reading

The verse is used to distinguish between the share in a bequest and the rules of inheritance, and to highlight the meaning of “men” in context.

Axes

  • Legal
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Inheritance: 2
  • Share: 2
  • Men: 2

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It is connected to the critique of traditional understanding and to semantic distinctions between texts.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Distinction: 2
  • Critique of tradition: 1

Instances of Use

  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 205: He cites the verse to establish that depriving a daughter of inheritance is contrary to the Wise Revelation, rather than to the text of the verse itself.
    • Concept: Inheritance
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “For God—Exalted is He—says: {Men shall have a share …} (Women 7). Yet the predominant proportion … still does not give the daughter her right to inheritance.”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: The operative rules of the “science of inheritance shares” hold that a son excludes a male, whereas a female does not.
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 172: He distinguishes it from the inheritance verses and says that “share” here is a share in a bequest, not a portion in inheritance.
    • Concept: Share
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “{Men shall have a share of what parents and close relatives leave behind} (Women 7), a statement concerning bequest.”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: Regarding it as one of the inheritance verses
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 242–243: He uses the verse to affirm that the word “men” may mean males, as a prelude to understanding the verses on qiwāma.
    • Concept: Men
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “We found that it may mean the plural of ‘male,’ as in His—Exalted is He—saying: {Men shall have a share …}”

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas