This axis brings together 2 instances in which this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
Indeed, only the learned among His servants fear God…
Reader’s answer
Question
Where does Shahrur place Fatir 28, what does it signify for him, and what function does it serve in his distinction between the guidance of the Book and the guidance of the Qur’an?
Shahrur cites Fatir 28 in the context of defining the God-conscious: for him, they are those who fear God through knowledge, understanding, and faith. Its function in the argument is not to establish an independent meaning of knowledge, but to support the distinction between the guidance of the Book addressed to the God-conscious and the guidance of the Qur’an addressed to people.
Shahrur defines the God-conscious as those who fear God through knowledge, understanding, and faith, and he cites Fatir 28 to support this description. In his argument, the verse functions within the distinction between the guidance of the Book for the God-conscious and the guidance of the Qur’an for people; he thus makes the description of the God-conscious distinct from people in general.
Evidence and location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 45.
Limits of the reading
- The evidence establishes the use of the verse in describing the God-conscious and in the argument distinguishing the two kinds of guidance; it does not offer an independent discussion of the meaning of knowledge or understanding.
- The evidence does not explicitly state that knowledge and understanding are a general condition of God-consciousness in an independent theoretical formulation; what is established is that it links the awe of the God-conscious to them and to faith.
- This evidence alone, in this passage, does not establish a general ruling concerning synonymy or its absence between the terms of the Qur’an and the Book.
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Brief reading
It is cited as evidence that knowledge and understanding are a condition of God-consciousness, and that awe arises from apprehension rather than from mere physical contact.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- God-consciousness: 2
- Awe and knowledge: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It serves his linking of knowledge and awe in understanding guidance and God-consciousness.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
Instances of use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 45: He makes knowledge and understanding a condition of the God-consciousness that he links to the verse on the guidance of the Book.
- Concept: God-consciousness
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “The God-conscious are those who fear God through knowledge, understanding, and faith, as indicated by His saying, Exalted is He: {… Indeed, only the learned among His servants fear God…} (Fatir 28).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 154: He cites it as evidence that awe results from apprehension and knowledge, rather than from merely physically touching the Qur’an.
- Concept: Awe and knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “Awe is fear arising from apprehension, in accordance with His saying, Exalted is He: {.. Indeed, only the learned among His servants fear God..}”
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.