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
And when Our command came, We saved Shuʿayb and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and the Cry seized those who had done wrong …
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Hud 94 in his interpretation of the meaning of the divine “command”?
Shahrur employs the verse within a group of verses from Surat Hud to argue that the decisive divine “command” appears, in these stories, through consequences occurring in the world: the salvation of Shuʿayb and the believers with him, and the seizure of the wrongdoers by the Cry. He regards this as an example of a command effective in existence, rather than a behavioral command that takes the form of an exhortation or injunction.
Shahrur cites Hud 94 alongside other verses that link the coming of “Our command” to the salvation of believers and the occurrence of punishment upon wrongdoers. Shahrur interprets the phenomena mentioned in this context, including the Cry in Hud 94, as existential phenomena governed by objective laws in existence. He distinguishes this “decisive divine command” from the command concerning human behavior, which he describes as taking the form of an exhortation or injunction.
Citation and Location
The State and Society — p. 24.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s way of employing the verse within his construction of the concept of the “decisive divine command”; it does not establish that this interpretation is the verse’s only meaning or its agreed-upon interpretation.
- The claim that the phenomena mentioned in the verses operate according to the “objective laws of existence” is Shahrur’s own assertion in the citation, not an independent conclusion demonstrated by the quotation outside the framework of his reading.
- The details of this verse alone should not be generalized to all occurrences of the term “command” in the Qur’an, because the citation is based on a specific group of narrative verses.
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Brief Reading
For Shahrur, the verse serves as an example that the decisive divine command manifests itself in tangible outcomes of salvation or destruction within social reality.
Axes
- Political and Social
- Faith
Related Concepts
- Divine command: 2
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It is connected to a semantic network that brings together the divine and material events.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Example: 1
Usage Locations
- The State and Society, p. 24: He presents it, together with others, as evidence that the decisive divine command is connected to tangible phenomena of salvation and destruction.
- Concept: divine command
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual citation: “{And when Our command came, We saved Shuʿayb …} (Hud 94).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.