This page gathers four instances of the use of Aal Imran 64 in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, and from them highlights the idea of the common word and the meaning of inclusive Islam. Its importance lies in placing the relationship with the People of the Book within the framework of shared monotheism, not sectarian restriction or exclusion.
The verse text as cited
Say, O People of the Book, come to a common word… and if they turn away, then say, bear witness that we are Muslims
Brief reading
Shahrur uses the verse to affirm that Islam here means submission to God, and that it includes the People of the Book within the address of the common word. He also links it to understanding turning away as aversion, and makes it evidence for an open horizon of daʿwa based on the shared monotheistic ground, not on coercion.
Axes
- Faith-based
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Pluralism: 2
- The one Islam: 2
- Aversion: 2
- Monotheism: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
The verse lies within a network that brings together the one Islam, monotheism, pluralism, and aversion. It is central because it gives the address to the People of the Book a clear place within his project, and links the shared doctrinal ground to a political and social concept broader than mere narrow religious affiliation.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
- Foundation: 2
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- A witness to the meaning of inclusive Islam
- Connected to the common word with the People of the Book
- Used in understanding aversion and turning away
Instances of use
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 11: He employs it to prove that what he shares with the People of the Book is Islam in the sense of submission to God, not exclusive sectarian affiliation.
- Concept: Pluralism
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «So the Exalted said: {Say, O People of the Book… and if they turn away, then say, bear witness that we are Muslims} (Aal Imran 64)»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 45: He understands it to mean that Islam also includes the People of the Book, not only the community of believers in the Prophet.
- Concept: The one Islam
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: «And “that we are Muslims” means we (Muhammad and those who believed in his message), and you (the People of the Book) together, not we alone.»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 168: He cites it to argue that turning away here means leaving and aversion, not merely abstract intellectual disagreement.
- Concept: Aversion
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «{And if they turn away, then say, bear witness that we are Muslims} (Aal Imran 64).»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 209: He makes the verse evidence that the Muhammadan call is a political-monotheistic one open to the People of the Book within a common word, not one based on coercion or exclusion.
- Concept: Monotheism
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: «We note this in His saying – تعالى –: {Say, O People of the Book…} (Aal Imran 64).»
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology of atlas construction.