This page explains a conceptual relation between two poles within Shahrur’s thought, and how this relation functions in the construction of meaning.
Within a Broader Family
This formulation is part of the field of Qur’anic reference and the differentiation between meanings. Its witness concerns a specific issue, and the family brings together the Qur’an’s relation to knowledge, objective laws, pluralism, and the distinction between words and concepts.
Meaning of the Relation
This relation indicates that the Qur’an does not use kinship terms synonymously, but distinguishes between the father and the parent, between the mother and the birth mother, and also between the two parents and the two parents. This means that each term has its own significance in the Qur’anic context, and that the meaning of lineage, care, or origin is not understood in a single rigid form, but is read according to the distinction introduced by the text.
The Two Poles of the Relation
- First pole: the Qur’an
- Relation: distinguishes
- Second pole: between the father and the parent, the mother and the birth mother, and the two parents and the two parents
Evidence
- Islam and Faith through The Qur’an distinguishes between family terms
- Witness: Shahrur continues his sharp distinction between the terms: father/parent, mother/birth mother, the two parents/the two parents
Its Effect in the Knowledge Map
This relation gains its importance because it reveals the precision of the conceptual structure in the Qur’an, and prevents the family vocabulary from being gathered into a single simplified meaning. In the knowledge map, this distinction helps regulate kinship relations as differentiated concepts that must be distinguished when interpreting texts and building the meanings associated with family, lineage, and kinship.