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.
Text of the Verse as Cited
And He will teach him the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Al Imran 48 to distinguish between “the Book” and “wisdom,” and between the Torah and the Gospel?
Shahrur employs the verse’s enumeration—“the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel”—to argue that these are terms for distinct components of Jesus’s teaching, rather than synonymous names for one thing. Within his terminology, “the Book” is legislation and “wisdom” is commandments, while he associates the Torah with Moses’s prophethood and the Gospel with Jesus’s prophethood.
Shahrur reads the coordination of “the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel” in the verse as evidence that these items are distinct within Jesus’s teaching. Here, Shahrur defines “the Book” in relation to Moses and Jesus as the body of legislation, and takes “wisdom” to be commandments; he correlates the Torah with Moses’s prophethood and the Gospel with Jesus’s prophethood.
Citation and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 121.
Limits of the Reading
- This presents Shahrur’s terminological reading of the verse; it does not state its meaning as agreed upon in exegesis.
- The citation establishes its direct connection to Al Imran 48 and to the distinction among the four elements, but it alone is insufficient to detail Shahrur’s full conception of the plurality of meanings of “the Book” in the Qur’an.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
The verse is used to distinguish the meanings of the Book and wisdom, and to construct a broader conception of the plurality of meanings of the Book across the messages.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
- Faith-related
Related Concepts
- the Book: 2
- wisdom: 2
- the Book in relation to Jesus: 2
- plurality of meanings of the Book: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It serves the conceptual distinction between the levels of revelation and knowledge associated with the message.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 2
- Distinction: 1
Instances of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 121: He uses it to distinguish between the Book and wisdom, on the one hand, and the Torah and the Gospel, on the other, in order to establish the plurality of meanings of “the Book.”
- Concept: the Book
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual citation: “And His saying concerning the Messiah: {And He will teach him the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel} (Al Imran 48).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 384: He uses it to link the Messiah to the teaching of the Book and wisdom, in the context of the development of values and rulings across the messages.
- Concept: wisdom
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: “- {And He will teach him the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel} (Al Imran 48, concerning the Messiah).”
- A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 32: He uses it to establish that the Book may signify legislation alone, as in the case of Moses and Jesus.
- Concept: the Book in relation to Jesus
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: “{ And He will teach him the Book, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel } (Al Imran 48)”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.