Ghafir 40

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This axis brings together 3 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 whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer—such people will enter Paradise, wherein they will be provided for without measure.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read Ghafir 40 in relation to faith, righteous action, and entitlement to Paradise, and does he establish through it the equality of men and women in recompense?

Shahrur cites the verse as a text linking entry into Paradise to two conditions mentioned together: righteous action and faith. He highlights the generality of the address to both male and female. In the attached passage, he places it among verses that, in his view, make action the basis of otherworldly recompense, and he uses it to object to the claim that a person does not enter Paradise through their deeds. However, the citation does not explain in detail the meaning of righteous action, nor does it derive from the verse alone a complete theory of the conditions of salvation or of all questions concerning gender equality.

The verse mentions righteous action and faith together in describing those who enter Paradise, and explicitly states that the ruling encompasses male and female alike. Shahrur employs the verse, together with other verses he cites in the same context, to affirm that entry into Paradise is connected to action and to challenge a statement he attributes to some scholars: that a person does not enter Paradise through their deeds.

Citation and Location

Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 226.

Limits of the Reading

  • There is only one direct citation, mentioned on two consecutive pages in the same wording; it therefore does not constitute two independent citations.
  • The citation in «Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence» concerns another verse from Surat Ghafir and the question of attributes; it does not support a reading of Ghafir 40.
  • The excerpt breaks off after beginning to present the view to which Shahrur objects; therefore, the full formulation of this view or a discussion of its arguments cannot be attributed to him on the basis of the attached text alone.
  • The citation does not establish that Shahrur denies any role to divine mercy or reduces recompense to action alone.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

The verse is cited to establish that faith-based recompense is connected to righteous action for both male and female alike, not to mere assertion.

Axes

  • Faith
  • Human and ethical

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It forms part of the network of gender equality and the linking of faith to action.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Support: 2
  • Critique of tradition: 1

Instances of Use

  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 226: He uses it to affirm that faith is coupled with righteous action for both male and female alike as a condition for deserving Paradise.
    • Concept: Righteous action
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “And he says: {And whoever does righteous deeds…} (Ghafir 40).”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 227: He cites the verse to establish that entering Paradise is connected to righteous action, rather than merely to the claim that mercy alone is the criterion; thereby, he refutes the traditional reading that eliminates the role of action.
    • Concept: Righteous action
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual citation: “{Whether male or female, while being a believer—such people will enter Paradise, wherein they will be provided for without measure} (Ghafir 40)… These verses refute what the learned gentlemen have become accustomed to repeating… namely, that a person enters Paradise only through God’s mercy.”
    • Opposing traditional reading: the claim that a person enters Paradise only through God’s mercy
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 304: He cites it to establish that faith-based recompense and righteous action do not distinguish between male and female.
    • Concept: Equality
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: “But according to the Book of God, woman is exactly like man: {And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer} (Ghafir 40).”

This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.

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