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 significations. Its witness pertains to a specific issue, while the family brings together the Qur’an’s relation to knowledge, objective laws, pluralism, and the distinction between words and concepts.
The meaning of the relation
This relation means that the Qur’an does not treat hearing, sight, and the heart as one and the same, but distinguishes between them as different gateways to knowledge and perception. Each has its own role in receiving and understanding the world; therefore, the text presents them separately, not as identical terms.
The two poles of the relation
- First pole: the Qur’an
- Relation: distinguishes between
- Second pole: hearing, sight, and the heart as sources of knowledge
Evidence
- The Book and the Qur’an through hearing, sight, and the heart as primary sources of knowledge
- Witness: - The Qur’an distinguishes between hearing, sight, and the heart as primary sources of knowledge.
Its effect on the epistemic map
This relation gains its importance from the fact that it draws, in the conceptual map, a Qur’anic basis for the sources of human knowledge. It shows that cognition in the Qur’anic conception is composite and multidimensional, and that knowledge does not rest on the senses alone nor on heart-consciousness alone, but on the differentiation of these gateways and their complementarity. This helps in understanding the epistemic structure that the Qur’an builds within the broader intellectual system.