This is a lexicographic entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his various books, and links together its multiple uses.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s glossary. For reading by theme, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
The meaning in Shahrur
Allah is the highest and sole authority in analysis and prohibition; neither messenger, jurist, nor state shares this with Him. This divine exclusivity is made the basis for criticizing the human claim to authority in religious legislation, and for distinguishing religious judgment from the organization of the political and legal sphere.
Distinctions
- He does not correspond to a messenger, jurist, or state; these may convey, exercise independent reasoning, or regulate, but they do not possess the authority to establish what is lawful and unlawful
- He does not overlap with the concept of the civil state; the state regulates the public sphere by law, whereas analysis and prohibition belong to Allah alone.
Places in his books
- Islam and the Human Being: Allah is the sole authority for analysis and prohibition, and neither messenger, jurist, nor state shares this with Him. The source makes this divine monopoly the basis for criticizing human authority in religious legislation, and for separating it from political and legal organization
What is adjacent to it and what differs from it
- Islam is a human ethical framework broader than specific confessional affiliation
- Islam is historically and conceptually prior to the specificity of the Muhammadan message
- Islam as a general human horizon is broader than specific Muhammadan faith
- Islam transcends narrow belonging
- The distinction between sin, offense, and transgression distributes responsibility between forgiveness, reform, and persistence
- Freedom and human values form the criterion of Islam and the basis of resistance to tyranny
- The civil state regulates the public sphere by law, not by religious prohibition
- Sins against God are susceptible to forgiveness
- Allah alone possesses analysis and prohibition
- Understanding Islam requires beginning with the Qur’an through a recitative method that establishes the distinctness of terms
- The concepts of loyalty, unbelief, and polytheism are reread on a value-based, not identity-based, foundation