Ta-Ha 115

3 min read

This entry 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.

Text of the verse as cited

And We had already made a covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found in him no resolve.

Reader’s answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read the phrase “min qabl” in God’s saying: “And We had already made a covenant with Adam before”?

Shahrur reads “min qabl” in the verse as an adverb of time referring to the past; that is, the covenant with Adam took place at an earlier time. He makes the verse an example of how “qabl” conveys the same temporal indication despite variations in its inflectional form, so that a difference in vowel ending does not, for him, alter the word’s general temporal meaning.

Shahrur explicitly states that “qabl” points to the past, and regards “min qabl” in Ta-Ha 115 as an example of this. In Shahrur’s formulation, “qabl” remains an adverb indicating time in the forms he mentions: accusative, genitive, and nominative.

Citation and location

Qur’anic Narratives, Vol. 1 — p. 128.

Limits of the reading

  • This is evidence of Shahrur’s use of the phrase “min qabl” as indicating past time, not a comprehensive interpretation of Ta-Ha 115.
  • The accompanying text presents Shahrur’s view of the relationship between inflection and temporal meaning; it does not provide a comparative grammatical discussion or documentation of other grammatical positions.
  • The citation alone does not support a detailed ruling on the grammatical parsing of the phrase within the verse beyond Shahrur’s assertion that its temporal indication remains intact.

Continue from here

Brief reading

It is cited as evidence that the word “min qabl” is an adverb of time, and that differences in inflection do not alter its general temporal meaning.

Themes

  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Narrative and historical
  • Time: 2
  • Priorness: 2

Its place in the conceptual network

It belongs to the network of interpreting temporal expressions and recalibrating their meaning according to context.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 1
  • Example: 1

Instances of use

  • Qur’anic Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 128: It is cited as evidence that “min qabl” is also an adverb of time, with the difference lying in inflection rather than in its general temporal meaning.
    • Concept: Time
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “Or nominative with ḍammah, as in verse 4 of al-Rum, and similarly in God’s saying {And We had already made a covenant with Adam before…} (Ta-Ha: 115)”
  • Qur’anic Narratives, Vol. 2, p. 128: It is mentioned to show that nominative “qabl” remains an adverb of time, while differing in meaning from the accusative and genitive cases.
    • Concept: Priorness
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual citation: “Or nominative with ḍammah, as in verse 4 of al-Rum, and similarly in God’s saying {And We had already made a covenant with Adam before, but he forgot…} (Ta-Ha: 115)”

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

Graph View

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas