This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as cited
SAY: OBEY GOD AND THE MESSENGER…
Brief reading
The verse establishes a distinction between voluntary obedience and imposed obedience, while rejecting the transformation of those in authority into representatives of God.
Axes
- Faith
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Obedience: 3
Its place in the network of concepts
It is linked to recalibrating the concept of obedience within the social and political sphere.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Establishing: 1
- Distinguishing: 1
Instances of use
- Islam and Faith, p. 86: He relies on it to distinguish between voluntary obedience and coercion, and to show that obedience occurs only through full volition.
- Concept: Obedience
- Function of the verse here: Establishing
- Textual evidence: «{ قُلْ أَطِيعُوا اللهَ وَالرَّسُولَ… } (Al Imran ٣٢),»
- The State and Society, p. 21: He brings it together with other verses on obedience to show that obedience is not a single degree, and that confusing them leads to turning those in authority into representatives of God.
- Concept: Obedience
- Function of the verse here: Distinguishing
- Textual evidence: «{قُلْ أَطِيعُوا اللهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنَّ اللهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْكَافِرِينَ} (Al Imran 32),»
- Counter-traditional reading: Merging the obedience connected to God and the Messenger with the separate obedience due to those in authority
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.