This is a lexical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his various books, and connects its different usages.
This entry belongs to the Shahrur lexicon. For reading by theme, see Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
Shura is a Qur’anic term for a form of collective rule in which freedom is practiced within a binding constitutional framework. It is based on plurality, on appealing to cognitive, customary, aesthetic, and ethical authorities, and on obedience to the law rather than to persons, which makes it a mechanism for regulating the relationship between the individual and society, not merely an advisory opinion.
Differences
- It differs from pluralism because it does not merely accept difference, but regulates it through a legal and institutional reference framework
- It also differs from abstract individual freedom because it does not mean unrestricted choice, but the exercise of freedom within a shared constitutional order.
Places in his books
- The State and Society: for Shahrur, shura is the Qur’anic term for democracy, that is, the collective practice of freedom within a constitutional frame of reference. He links it to the acceptance of plurality, and to cognitive, customary, aesthetic, and ethical authority, and to obedience to the law rather than to persons
What it neighbors and differs from
- Plurality
- Freedom, shura, and democracy
- The civil state is based on freedom, plurality, and organized citizenship
- Democracy mediates between the individual and society
- Shura is a constitutional democracy based on plurality and organizing reference frameworks