This is a glossary entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his different books, and connects its multiple usages.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s glossary. For reading by theme, see Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
In Muhammad Shahrur’s thought, sunna is a composite concept that does not denote a single pattern of following; rather, it is divided into messengerly Sunna and prophetic Sunna, each with its own field, function, and limits. It is understood as a framework that regulates obedience and emulation and prevents them from being equated with revelation. At times, it is also read as a tool for understanding the movement of history and human development, not as a means of entrenching stagnation or sanctifying conflict.
Distinctions
- It is not the unseen reports, nor anything that contradicts the Qur’an, because these are rejected and not made part of the authoritative Sunna
- Not every everyday action of the Prophet is an obligatory Sunna, nor does it equal Qur’anic wisdom or serve as a parallel source to revelation.
Places in his books
- The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna: In Muhammad Shahrur’s thought, sunna is not a single unit, but is divided into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna, each with its own field, function, and limits. With this division, sunna becomes a framework for understanding obedience and following, not a parallel source to revelation
- The Qur’anic Stories, vol. 1: Muhammad Shahrur rereads it as a tool for understanding human development and the dynamism of history, not as a mechanism for sanctifying conflict or entrenching stagnation. Here it is linked to mutual struggle and to the historical reading that explains transformation and plurality.
What it adjoins and differs from
- The Prophet’s everyday actions are not an obligatory Sunna
- Rereading sunna in a modern and political way requires criticism of inherited sanctification and the elevation of consciousness over power
- The unseen reports are rejected by him
- Reports that contradict the Qur’an are rejected
- Reports are used to justify political domination
- Emulation belongs to the station of the message
- The hadith heritage is a human, conjectural product
- Early political change turns into despotism
- Intellectual change precedes political change
- Qur’anic wisdom is not the prophetic Sunna
- The Muhammadan message is fixed in its origin
- Qur’anic approval is not restricted to the Companions