This is a lexical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur across his various books and connects its multiple usages.
This entry belongs to the Shahrur glossary. For reading by theme, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
Adoption is the attribution of the care of a child, or one who is legally equivalent to a child, to someone other than the child’s parents when needed, as a legitimate solution in specific cases rather than merely a formal procedure. Here, it is understood in relation to the limits of awareness and development, especially what is connected to weaning and its social and legislative implications.
Distinctions
- It is not equivalent to natural lineage, because biological fatherhood and motherhood remain distinct from it
- It is not presented as an open-ended general principle without constraints, but rather within specific cases required by necessity and by social and legislative controls.
Places in his books
- Islam and Faith: adoption is presented as a legitimate solution in specific cases, not as a merely formal matter. In Shahrur’s view, it is tied to the limits of awareness and development, especially what he calls weaning and the social and legislative effects that follow from it
What is adjacent to it and what differs from it
- Shahrur’s reconstruction of Qur’anic concepts makes them epistemic and humanistic
- Adoption is legitimate in specific cases
- The family distinction in the Qur’an redefines fatherhood, motherhood, and adoption