Al-Nur 56

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This verse appears in Shahrur’s discussion of obedience to the Messenger, particularly in connection with established rituals such as prayer and almsgiving. Through it, he distinguishes between what the Messenger conveyed concerning rituals and the interpretive judgments associated with their circumstances.

The Text of the Verse as Cited

Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger, so that you may receive mercy.

Reader’s Answer

Question

Where does Qur’an 24:56 occur, what distinction does Shahrur draw regarding obedience to the Messenger, and what function does it serve in his argument?

The verse is cited in Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence (p. 135). Shahrur presents it as the sole instance in which obedience to the Messenger occurs independently of obedience to God, linking it to establishing prayer and giving almsgiving. In his argument, the verse serves to confine this instance to the two rituals while assigning the determination of their practical obligation to the Messenger.

Shahrur states that obedience to the Messenger independently of obedience to God occurs in the Revelation only once, in Qur’an 24:56. He interprets obedience to the Messenger in this verse as obedience to him in establishing prayer and giving almsgiving, maintaining that the basic obligation of the two rituals came in the Revelation, while defining the obligation was left to the Messenger. Within Shahrur’s framework, the verse supports the view that prayer and almsgiving were transmitted through practical mass transmission; consequently, the need for hadith books and the jurisprudence of rituals is not made the basis for explaining how they are performed.

Citation and Location

Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 135.

Limits of the Reading

  • The citation does not establish that the verse negates obedience to the Messenger in every other domain; rather, it identifies its significance, according to Shahrur, in establishing prayer and giving almsgiving.
  • The citation mentions a distinction between connected and separate obedience, but at this point it does not provide sufficient detail to construct a full independent definition of each beyond its general formulation.
  • The citation does not establish a ruling concerning everything attributed to the Messenger, nor is it alone sufficient to connect the verse to other verses or to the question of the Sunna more broadly.

Continue From Here

Brief Reading

The verse is read as a command to establish prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger in this domain. Shahrur therefore uses it to delimit the place of obedience within rituals, rather than extending it to everything attributed to the Messenger outside this context.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Methodological
  • Obedience to the Messenger: 3
  • Rituals: 3
  • Obedience in rituals: 2
  • Establishing prayer and almsgiving: 2
  • Obligation: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

The verse is linked to prayer, almsgiving, obedience to the Messenger, and rituals. It is important because it helps distinguish between the ritual constant and context-bound interpretation.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Foundational: 5
  • Distinction: 2

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

  • Obedience to the Messenger is present in the explanation of rituals.
  • Prayer and almsgiving are at the center of the verse.
  • It supports the distinction between the constant and the contextual.

Contexts of Use

  • Islam and the Human Being: treats it as evidence for the obligation to obey the Messenger in explaining how prayer and almsgiving are performed.
    • Concept: obedience to the Messenger
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual citation: “{ Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger, so that you may receive mercy } (Al-Nur 56).”
  • Islam and Faith, p. 80: treats it as the basis for the obligation to obey the Messenger in explaining how prayer and almsgiving are performed, where their details are not given in the Book.
    • Concept: obedience to the Messenger
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual citation: “{ Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger, so that you may receive mercy } (Al-Nur 56)”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 100: treats this verse as the basis for the obligation to obey the Messenger’s instructions regarding the rites of pilgrimage and lesser pilgrimage, as binding rituals.
    • Concept: obedience in rituals
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual citation: “«Take your rites from me.» The command here must be obeyed by virtue of Qur’an 24:56.”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 112: contrasts it with fay’ to argue that prayer and almsgiving are fixed rituals whose obedience is connected, unlike the context-bound interpretive judgments concerning fay’.
    • Concept: establishing prayer and almsgiving
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual citation: “Just as He left to him the details of establishing prayer and giving almsgiving in Qur’an 24:56.”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 30: cites it as evidence that prayer and almsgiving are obligations, and that obedience to the Messenger is tied to his practical specification of how they are performed.
    • Concept: obligation
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual citation: “{Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger …} (Al-Nur 56); and we understand that establishing prayer is an obligation and giving almsgiving is an obligation.”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 101: places it among duties and rituals, to show that prayer and almsgiving are pillars of practical commitment in the message.
    • Concept: rituals
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual citation: “1. Establishing prayer and giving almsgiving: { Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger, so that you may receive mercy } (Al-Nur 56).”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 135: understands it as obedience to the Messenger in determining how prayer is established and almsgiving given, not obedience to him personally as a general civil law.
    • Concept: rituals
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual citation: “It occurred once … { Establish the prayer, give almsgiving, and obey the Messenger, so that you may receive mercy } (Al-Nur 56).”

This page is presented within the atlas’s general atlas-building methodology.

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