Maryam 8

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This locus gathers 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

{ He said, “My Lord, how can I have a boy when my wife is barren and I have reached extreme old age?” }

Reader’s Answer

Question

Where does Shahrur cite Maryam 8, what distinction does he draw from it, and what function does it serve in his argument concerning the waiting period?

Shahrur cites the verse in Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence (p. 255), in the course of his discussion of the waiting period for those who do not menstruate. He presents Zechariah’s wife as an example of a woman of childbearing age who does not menstruate because of a medical condition, while pregnancy remains possible after the condition has ceased. For him, the verse supports making the waiting period for this category contingent upon establishing the womb’s freedom from pregnancy, rather than merely upon the cessation of menstruation.

Shahrur cites Maryam 8 as an example in his detailed classification of categories of the waiting period, specifically in his discussion of women who do not menstruate. He distinguishes between those who have despaired of menstruation and those who are of childbearing age but do not menstruate because of a medical condition; he presents Zechariah’s wife as an example of the latter category, as barren and then becoming able to bear children. The example functions in his argument by supporting his claim that the cessation of menstruation in this category does not preclude the possibility of pregnancy, and that their waiting period should therefore be tied to establishing the womb’s freedom from pregnancy.

Citation and Location

Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 255.

Limits of the Reading

  • The citation does not establish an independent general rule defining infertility or its medical causes; rather, it uses the case of Zechariah’s wife as an example in constructing his classification of the waiting period.
  • The citation does not establish that Maryam 8 alone is the source of the ruling; the verse is employed within Shahrur’s argument alongside his discussion of examining the womb’s freedom from pregnancy and breastfeeding.
  • The citation does not establish an equivalence between infertility and the absence of menstruation; rather, it links the example to a medical condition and to the possibility of pregnancy.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

Shahrur uses it as an example of a special case in the waiting period, so that the ruling, in his view, is based on the medical condition rather than on a single fixed form.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Human and Ethical
  • Waiting period: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It enters the network of the waiting period as a model illustrating the flexibility of classification according to circumstance.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Example: 1

Places of Use

  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 255–256: He cites it as an example of a woman who does not menstruate but may become pregnant, to support his classification of the waiting period according to medical condition.
    • Concept: Waiting period
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual citation: “They cite here, as an example, the wife of Zechariah, who was barren.”

This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas