This axis brings together 1 locus 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
Marry off the unmarried among you, and the righteous among your male servants and female servants. If they are poor, God will enrich them from His bounty. And God is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 24:32 in his discussion of marriage and “those whom your right hands possess”?
Shahrur employs the verse within a critical presentation of al-Tabari’s reading: the quotation transmitted from al-Tabari interprets the command in the verse as a command to arrange marriage that includes “free persons and slaves.” Shahrur then comments that this understanding reads “those whom your right hands possess” as a reality connected to slavery and captivity. Thus, the point of citation here is to show how the traditional interpretation incorporates the verse into the system of slavery, rather than to derive an independent ruling from the verse alone.
The clear answer: Shahrur reports from al-Tabari’s interpretation of Al-Nur 32 that the verse contains an encouragement and command to marry for “free persons and slaves,” along with a promise that the poor will be enriched by God’s bounty. How Shahrur employs the verse: he places this report within a discussion of al-Tabari’s reading of “those whom your right hands possess,” and says that al-Tabari understood it as a product of slavery and captivity, citing the recurrence of terms such as slaves, slave girls, female servants, chattel slaves, and captives. Accordingly, for him the verse attests to the presence of free persons and slaves in the inherited exegetical conception of marriage. The citation and its location: in the book State and Society, p. 268, Shahrur cites a text attributed to al-Tabari regarding the Qur’anic statement, “Marry off the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male servants and female servants,” which states: “He commanded it for free persons and slaves.”
Citation and location
State and Society — p. 268.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s transmission of al-Tabari’s interpretation and his comment on it, but the excerpt does not provide a positive alternative definition of “those whom your right hands possess” in Shahrur’s thought.
- This passage alone is insufficient to claim that Shahrur rejects every traditional interpretation of the verse or to establish the details of his ruling on marriage.
- The claim that the verse itself establishes the system of slavery is not a conclusion supported by the citation; the object of citation is the traditional reading presented by Shahrur.
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Brief reading
Shahrur cites the verse to critique the traditional interpretation that extended marriage to free persons and slaves within the old system of slavery.
Axes
- Political and social
- Legislative
Related concepts
- Male and female servants: 2
- Slavery: 1
- Marriage: 1
- Traditional interpretation: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to the critique of tradition in understanding the rulings of the old social order.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of tradition: 1
Loci of use
- State and Society, p. 268: He cites the traditional interpretation to show how marriage was extended to free persons and slaves within the old system of slavery.
- Concept: male and female servants
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual citation: ““God’s encouragement to them toward marriage and His command of it for free persons and slaves””
- Corresponding traditional reading: free persons and slaves
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.