This is a lexical entry that gathers the technical meaning of this term in Shahrur across his various books, and connects its multiple uses.
This entry belongs to Shahrur’s lexicon. For reading by theme, one may refer to Shahrur’s major themes and shared concepts.
The meaning in Shahrur
The prophet is the human being who receives revelation, receives news of the unseen, and conveys it within the limits of his time and society. He also manages people’s affairs through reasoning within revelation, without being the source of absolute legislation or possessing knowledge of the unseen in himself. In this conception, he is understood as a historical and functional station regulated by revelation and reality together.
Distinctions
- He differs from the messenger in that the messenger is more specifically concerned with conveying the message and with legislative assignment, whereas the prophet’s focus is reception, administration, and reasoning within the human sphere
- Knowledge of the unseen is not made an inherent attribute of the prophet, nor is his station treated as a permanent authority outside its historical circumstance.
- The sealing of prophethood does not mean the end of testimony or the cessation of all religious signification, but rather the end of prophethood as a specific function.
Places in his books
- Islam and Faith: The prophet differs from the messenger in this conception; he administers society and exercises reasoning in its affairs within the limits of human beings and revelation. Nor is he granted knowledge of the unseen from himself; rather, his station remains governed by historical and social function
What adjoins it and what it differs from
- The messenger
- Distinguishing between the messenger and the prophet redefines the boundaries of authority and revelation
- Testimony continues after the sealing of prophethood
- Shahrur re-regulates religious authority through freedom, the limits of revelation, and reasoning
- Shahrur’s concepts of unbelief, polytheism, and testimony are cognitive, not combative