This is a lexicographic entry that brings together the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur’s work across his various books, and connects its multiple usages.
This entry belongs to the Shahrurian glossary. For thematic reading, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
Meaning in Shahrur
Al-nabaʾ is a grave report relating to a past or future unseen matter, delivered in broad outline and concision, not in detail. What matters is that it concerns something hidden beyond present observation, together with the significance and impact it carries.
Distinctions
- It is distinguished from the general khabar (report) in that al-nabaʾ is more specific than it; not every report is a nabaʾ, but only what relates to the unseen and is of consequence
- It differs from reports linked to observation and presence, because those are based on direct witnessing, whereas al-nabaʾ concerns what has been absent from the senses, or what came before or after them.
- It is not identical with the Qur’anic narrative itself, but rather describes the nature of the reports of the unseen and the laws of history that the narrative conveys.
- Nor is it confined to detailed storytelling, because its original form is concise and summary.
Places in his books
- The Qur’anic Story, vol. 1: the source defines it as a report about a past or future unseen matter, coming in summarized and concise form. In this way, it distinguishes it from report tied to observation and presence, and uses this distinction to understand the nature of Qur’anic narrative
What is adjacent to it and what differs from it
- report
- Qur’anic narrative
- report linked to observation
- Qur’anic narrative reveals the laws of history, not rulings
- al-nabaʾ pertains to the unseen