This axis brings together 1 instance of this verse’s use in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
Whatever good befalls you is from God, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself; and We have sent you to the people as a messenger, and God suffices as a witness.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Qur’an 4:79 to distinguish between human choice and existential destiny?
Shahrur employs the verse as an example of human choice and responsibility for conduct: he attributes good to God and evil to the self. He contrasts it with Qur’an 4:78, which he reads as speaking about existence and determined destinies, rather than conduct.
Shahrur explicitly states that Qur’an 4:79 concerns human choice. He links the verse’s clause, “whatever evil befalls you is from yourself,” to human responsibility in the sphere of conduct, in contrast to attributing good to God. Shahrur contrasts the two verses: for him, Qur’an 4:78 concerns existence and determined destinies, whereas Qur’an 4:79 concerns human choice.
Evidence and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 118.
Limits of the Reading
- The excerpt is cut off before the completion of Shahrur’s reasoning connected to the expression “the Mother of the Book”; therefore, his full argument cannot be reconstructed from this passage alone.
- The excerpt does not indicate that the verse negates destiny or reliance on God in every sense; rather, it establishes Shahrur’s distinction between the sphere of “existence and determined destinies” in Qur’an 4:78 and the sphere of “human choice” in Qur’an 4:79.
- This attribution is not presented as a necessary conclusion from the text of the verse alone, but as a specific deployment within Shahrur’s reading.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur presents it as an example of the sphere of human choice and responsibility, in contrast with another verse that he places within the sphere of existential destiny.
Axes
- Methodological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- Decree: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It helps distinguish the boundaries of meaning between choice and cosmic course.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Foundational: 1
Instances of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 118: He presents it as an example of the sphere of human choice and responsibility for conduct, in contrast with Qur’an 4:78, which he regards as belonging to the sphere of existential destiny.
- Concept: Decree
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual citation: “2- {Whatever good befalls you is from God, and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself…} (Al-Nisa’ 79).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.