This locus 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
We have certainly sent messengers before you: among them are those whose accounts We have related to you, and among them are those whose accounts We have not related to you. And no messenger could bring a sign except by God’s permission.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Ghafir 78 in his discussion of abrogation and previous messages?
Shahrur employs the verse within his conception of abrogation to argue that some previous laws were entirely annulled and no account of them has reached us, whereas other laws remained and were then subject to development or alteration. This distinction is his own interpretive construction: the verse itself mentions messengers whose accounts were not related to the Prophet, but does not itself explicitly state the details of the survival or abrogation of their laws.
Shahrur cites Ghafir 78 as evidence for the existence of previous messages whose accounts were not related, linking this to the possibility that their laws disappeared and were entirely annulled. He distinguishes between what he describes as the annulment of an entire law or legislation and the development of laws whose traces remained through abrogation or alteration, and he treats the messages that were “related” as an example of the second category.
Citation and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 382.
Limits of the Reading
- The verse, in its context, speaks of earlier messengers, some of whose accounts were related and some of whose accounts were not; it does not explicitly state that the law of every messenger whose account was not related was entirely annulled or disappeared.
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse for this distinction, but it is not by itself sufficient to establish a historical claim about the survival or disappearance of every previous law.
- The citation here does not provide an independent elaboration of the meaning of abrogation within the Muhammadan message; rather, it introduces the distinction within the broader context of Shahrur’s theory of changes in laws and legislations.
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Brief Reading
It establishes a distinction between abrogation within a single message and abrogation between earlier and later messages.
Axes
- Methodological
- Narrative and historical
Related Concepts
- Abrogation between messages: 2
- Previous messages: 1
- Abrogation within the message: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It serves as a methodological reference point for understanding the development of messages.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Foundational: 1
Instances of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 382: He cites the verse as evidence that there were previous messages that were entirely annulled and others whose traces remained and developed, in order to establish a distinction between abrogation within a single message and abrogation between messages.
- Concept: Abrogation between messages
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual citation: “This falls under laws of highly particular specificity … and is covered by His exalted saying {We have certainly sent messengers …} (Ghafir 78). The verse speaks of messages and laws that came before Muhammad.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for constructing the atlas.