This page explains a conceptual relationship between two terms within Shahrur’s thought, and how this relationship works in constructing meaning.
Within a broader family
This formulation belongs to the field of semantic differentiation between khabar and nabāʾ. Its witness clarifies the domain of presence or the unseen, and the encompassing family places the two terms in a single opposition between what is witnessed and what lies beyond it.
Meaning of the relationship
The meaning here is that the nabāʾ is a report connected to the unseen, that is, to what is not directly apprehended by sense or by observation, whether it is a past unseen or a future unseen. The witness clarifies that the nabāʾ is a report about this unseen, and it usually comes concise and summary in form.
The two sides of the relationship
- First side: the nabāʾ
- Relation: pertains
- Second side: the unseen
Evidence
- The Qur’anic Narrative, vol. 1 via The report pertains to the unseen
- Witness: - The nabāʾ: a report about a past or future unseen, and it comes in a concise, summary form.
Its effect in the knowledge map
This relationship shows the place of the nabāʾ within the conceptual map as a type of report that is not confined to witnessed events, but extends to what lies beyond the known present. It therefore links the concept of the nabāʾ to the domain of the unseen, and helps distinguish it from ordinary khabar, as well as understand its role in constructing Qur’anic knowledge about what is hidden from the past and the future.