This page explains a conceptual relation between two terms within Shahrur’s thought, and how this relation works in the construction of meaning.
Within a Broader Family
This relation belongs to the field of interpretation as a link between text, reality, and reason. Its witness shows an aspect of correspondence or outcome, and the family brings together interpretation with truth and law, and the changing of understanding across history.
Meaning of the Relation
This relation means that interpretation is not understood merely as a linguistic explanation, but as a movement that ends in the objective outcome of meaning, that is, to a truth or a law revealed by the text. At the same time, this arrival is not fixed in one form, because interpretation changes historically according to the changing of understanding and context.
The Two Terms of the Relation
- First term: interpretation
- Relation: ends in
- Second term: a truth or a law and changes historically
Evidence
- The Book and the Qur’an through Interpretation is the Goal of Meaning and Develops Historically
- Witness: Interpretation is the goal of meaning and develops historically. This statement combines interpretation as a transition to truth or law and interpretation as relative and historical, because interpretation for Muhammad Shahrur is not merely a linguistic explanation but a reaching of the objective outcome of the verse
Its Effect on the Cognitive Map
This relation shows that interpretation occupies a central position in Shahrur’s conception of Qur’anic knowledge, because it connects meaning with reality and understanding with history. In this way, this position in the conceptual map makes clear that the text is not read as a mere fixed signification, but as a path that ends in a truth or a law that can be disclosed through time and historical change.