This axis brings together 3 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 as cited
When she had delivered her, she said, “My Lord, I have delivered her as a female…”
Brief reading
In Shahrur, the verse appears as an example of using linguistic indication to critique inherited interpretations, while highlighting the meaning of delivery and its relation to equality.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Political and social
- Human and ethical
Related concepts
- Delivery: 2
- Readings: 2
- Gender equality: 2
- Creation and birth: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It is linked to testing readings and to rethinking the term away from inherited exegetical derivations.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of tradition: 2
- Example: 1
Instances of use
- Islam and Faith, p. 181: He uses it as evidence that “delivery” is the stage of bringing the newborn into the light after pregnancy.
- Concept: delivery
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual evidence: “{When she had delivered her, she said, ‘My Lord, I have delivered her as a female…’} (Al Imran 36).”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 85: He uses it to show that the disagreement over reading among exegetes and grammarians can be harnessed for derivations that serve the interpretive position rather than the original meaning.
- Concept: readings
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “We move to the verse of Al Imran 36, and we find that al-Razi notes that Abu Bakr read it … ‘wada’tu’ … and we find that Ibn Abbas and the others read it ‘wada’tu’ …”
- Counter-traditional reading: the reading of “wada’tu” with a sukun on the ʿayn and a ḍamma on the tāʾ, versus a fatḥa on the ʿayn and a sukun on the tāʾ
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 242: He discusses the exegetes’ interpretation and rejects privileging the male over the female, making the verse evidence to the contrary.
- Concept: gender equality
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “The problem is not in the speaker of {and the male is not like the female}… all the exegetes considered the male in the verse superior to the female, whereas the opposite is correct.”
- Counter-traditional reading: all exegetes considered the male in the verse superior to the female
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology of building the atlas.