This axis brings together 1 locus where 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
And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a grievous punishment.
Reader’s Answer
Question
Where does the verse occur, how does Shahrur distinguish in it between the divine command and objective laws, and what function does it serve in his argument?
The verse occurs in Surat Hud (58). Shahrur cites it among the verses concerning the destruction of communities and the deliverance of believers, making the “coming of the command” an example of the execution of divine decree through the objective laws that he calls God’s words; the verse thus serves as an applied piece of evidence in this argument.
Shahrur presents Hud 58 among a group of verses about ʿAd, Thamud, and Midian, treating it as evidence that the destruction of these communities and the deliverance of believers occur through divine decree executed via objective laws. He distinguishes, on the one hand, between irrevocable divine decree and, on the other, “God’s words,” which he defines as existence and its objective laws; he maintains that decree is executed only through the measures of matters and things.
Evidence and Location
The State and Society — p. 24.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence does not describe the laws specifically as “cosmic,” but rather as “objective.”
- The evidence does not provide an independent linguistic analysis of the phrase “Our command” in the verse; rather, it employs it within his argument concerning decree, words, and laws.
- This locus alone does not establish a general judgment extending beyond the communities and verses that Shahrur cites in the passage.
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Brief Reading
It is cited as an example that the irrevocable divine command manifests itself in cosmic laws that bring about destruction or deliverance.
Axes
- Methodological
- Political and Social
Related Concepts
- Divine command: 2
- Cosmic laws: 1
- Destruction and deliverance: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It connects cosmic regularities with the idea of the execution of the divine command.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Example: 1
Loci of Use
- The State and Society, p. 24: He cites it as an example that the irrevocable divine command manifests itself in cosmic laws that bring about destruction or deliverance.
- Concept: Divine command
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “{And when Our command came, We saved Hud …} (Hud 58),”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.