This is a lexicographical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur across his various books and connects its multiple uses.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s Lexicon. For thematic reading, see Shahrur’s Major Themes and Shared Concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
The civil state is the model of governance based on law, public rights, liberty, and accountability. It separates the authority of the state from the authority of religion and prevents the monopolization of decision-making in the name of persons or clerical authority. For Shahrur, it is a framework for protecting pluralism and the open public sphere, while organizing citizenship and separating powers on the basis of human allegiance rather than religious authorization.
Distinctions
- It is not a religious state in which legitimacy is derived from religious scholars or from a sacred authority above the law.
- It is not merely social pluralism; pluralism is a condition for it, whereas the civil state adds law, citizenship, and the separation of powers.
Passages from his books
- The State and Society: The civil state is the political form Shahrur wants: a state based on law, rights, freedoms, and the separation of powers, not on persons or coercion. Its function is to protect the open public sphere and ensure pluralism and freedom of opinion, while separating religious rites from power
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought: Here it appears as the political model that separates the authority of law from the authority of religion and protects public rights. In Muhammad Shahrur’s view, it is based on human allegiance, freedom, and accountability, not on religious authorization or clerical authority.
What it adjoins and differs from
- pluralism
- the Muhammadan mission inaugurated the age of cities
- social history moves from singularity to pluralism
- history moves toward pluralism
- pluralism produces the civil state
- pluralism is the basis of the civil state and society
- the civil state presupposes pluralism and the separation of powers
- the civil state rests on pluralism
- the civil state rests on freedom, pluralism, and regulated citizenship
- the civil state rests on obedience to the law
- the civil state and civil society are the horizon of history because pluralism and freedom defeat singularity
- the messages and the Muhammadan mission establish a society of rights and plurality