This axis brings together 1 instance of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
وَإِنْ تَجْهَرْ بِالْقَوْلِ فَإِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ وَأَخْفَى
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur interpret God’s saying, “For He knows the secret and what is more hidden,” in Ta-Ha 7?
Shahrur reads “and akhfa” here as meaning what is public or manifest, rather than what is more hidden than the secret. Thus, for him, the phrase affirms God’s knowledge of what is secret and what is public, in connection with the beginning of the verse: “And if you speak aloud.”
Shahrur explicitly states that “akhfa” in Ta-Ha 7 means what is public, explaining the verse as: He knows the secret and the public. He employs the verse within his view that the root kh-f-y is used with two opposite meanings: concealment and manifestation; he takes Ta-Ha 7 as evidence for the second meaning.
Evidence and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 276.
Limits of the Reading
- This presentation establishes Shahrur’s position and explicit statement in his book; it does not, on its own, offer a linguistic or exegetical preference between his reading and other readings of the term “akhfa.”
- The evidence itself mentions other Qur’anic examples to establish the idea of opposition in kh-f-y, but it does not provide here a grammatical analysis or detailed context specific to Ta-Ha 7.
- The occurrence of the term “akhfa” in Ta-Ha 15 and Ta-Ha 7 should not be turned into an additional exegetical relationship; the evidence presents them as separate examples within a single linguistic claim.
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Brief Reading
He maintains that “akhfa” here is contrasted with what is public and does not mean a deeper level of concealment.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- The hidden: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It serves to distinguish between the manifest meaning and the presumed meaning in interpretation.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Distinction: 1
Instances of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 276: He affirms that “akhfa,” for him, is not a deeper concealment but is contrasted with what is public in this context.
- Concept: the hidden
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual evidence: “And His saying, exalted is He: {وَإِنْ تَجْهَرْ بِالْقَوْلِ فَإِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ السُّرَّ وَأُخْفَى} (Ta-Ha 7): here, ‘akhfa’ means what is public.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.