This is a glossary entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur across his various books, and connects its multiple uses.
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
Jurisprudence: a historical human understanding of texts and the derivation of rulings from them, not equivalent to the Qur’an in sanctity or in authority. Here it is viewed as a human product formed through ijtihad and codification, and therefore it remains open to criticism and revision and does not possess absolute authority.
Distinctions
- It does not coincide with the Qur’an, but rather engages the Qur’an as a higher source in whose light it is understood
- It is not to be confused with divine legislation itself; it is the product of human understanding and effort, not a sacred text.
Occurrences in his books
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought: It is presented as a historical human understanding of the text, not as equivalent to the Qur’an or sacred like it. Its critique is made central to Muhammad Shahrur’s project, because he holds that much of it is detached from the Qur’an and bound to the age of codification
What it is adjacent to and different from
- The Qur’an
- Reconstructing Islamic thought requires liberating knowledge, jurisprudence, and politics by returning to the Qur’an
- Al-Shafi’i as a jurisprudential turning point
- Traditional jurisprudence as a historical product
- Inherited jurisprudence as a historical human construction that does not possess authority equal to that of the Qur’an
- Inherited jurisprudence as a historical human product
- Inherited jurisprudence does not coincide with the Qur’an
- Inherited jurisprudence is detached from the Qur’an
- Jurisprudence is a historical human heritage that does not possess authority equal to that of the Qur’an
- Jurisprudence is a historical human understanding
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought re-establishes an understanding of religion on the basis of the Qur’an, ijtihad, plurality, and the civil state
- The Qur’an: a new contemporary reading