This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it represents the methodological key for separating the unequivocal from the ambiguous, and for reorganizing reading within the text. It is central for him because it makes it possible to construct a different conception of the structure of revelation and the status of interpretation.
The verse as it appears
It is He who sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are unequivocal … and those firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in it …
Brief reading
Shahrur uses the verse to establish the division between unequivocal verses and ambiguous verses, and to make the Mother of the Book a referential basis in understanding. Through it he distinguishes between the layers of meaning in the text, and links interpretation with knowledge, and messengerhood with the Qur’an, within a graduated reading framework.
Axes
- Methodological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- Mother of the Book: 4
- The unequivocal and the ambiguous: 4
- Distinguishing the Book and the Qur’an: 2
- Those firmly rooted in knowledge: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
The verse is connected to the Mother of the Book, the unequivocal and the ambiguous, those firmly rooted in knowledge, and the distinction between the Book and the Qur’an. It is central because it gives his project a tool for understanding the structure of the text and determining what is foundational and what is ambiguous.
The role of the verse in the argument
- Establishment: 6
- Distinction: 2
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- The methodological key to the unequivocal and the ambiguous.
- Connected to the Mother of the Book and those firmly rooted in knowledge.
- Used to distinguish the layers of meaning in the text.
Pages in the atlas that refer to this verse
These links gather the pages that rely on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.
Related structural theses
Instances of use
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1, p. 17: He employs it to distinguish between the Book of rulings in messengerhood and the Qur’an of knowledge in prophethood, and thereby to include narratives within the Qur’an rather than within binding legislation.
- Concept: Distinguishing the Book and the Qur’an
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “As we likewise understood from His saying, Exalted: {It is He who sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are unequivocal …} (Aal ʿImran: 7), that in the Wise Revelation there is a Book of rulings, which is the Book of messengerhood, and within it a Qur’an of knowledge, which is the Book of prophethood”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 43: He takes it as the basis for dividing the Book into unequivocal verses, which are the Mother of the Book, ambiguous verses, and what is connected to the detailing of the Book.
- Concept: Mother of the Book
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “This division of the Wise Revelation into books is clearly found in His saying, Exalted: {It is He who sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are unequivocal; they are the Mother of the Book, and others are ambiguous…} (Aal ʿImran 7).”
- Counter-traditional reading: The traditional interpretation of the verse as referring only to the unequivocal and the ambiguous
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 103: He separates the meaning of “muḥkamah” in Surat Muhammad from the term the unequivocal and the ambiguous in Aal ʿImran.
- Concept: The unequivocal and the ambiguous
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “… it is also unrelated to the ambiguous mentioned in Aal ʿImran 7”
- Counter-traditional reading: The terminological division into unequivocal and ambiguous
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 171: He makes it a foundation for linking interpretation to specialized scholars who extract theories from the text.
- Concept: Those firmly rooted in knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “And in the meaning of interpretation came the following verses – {.. and none knows its interpretation except God and those firmly rooted in knowledge..}”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 373: He makes it the basis for his definition of the Mother of the Book as the unequivocal verses linked to limits, acts of worship, and ethics.
- Concept: Mother of the Book
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “We said that the Mother of the Book is the set of unequivocal verses {.. In it are verses that are unequivocal; they are the Mother of the Book} (Aal ʿImran 7)”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 13: He uses the verse to establish his distinction between “the Book” and “the Qur’an,” making the unequivocal verses the foundation of the message and the ambiguous the sphere of another domain that includes cosmological matters and narratives.
- Concept: The unequivocal and the ambiguous
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “The Book is what came between the covers of the muṣḥaf in its entirety, whereas the Qur’an is the ambiguous part of it {It is He who sent down to you the Book…} (Aal ʿImran 7)”
- Counter-traditional reading: It separates the Book and the Qur’an, contrary to the traditional reading that does not make this division with such breadth
- A Guide to Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 32: He makes it the basis for dividing the Book into unequivocal verses and ambiguous verses, and for distinguishing the meaning of the Book between the whole and the Book of legislation.
- Concept: Mother of the Book
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “{ It is He who sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are unequivocal; they are the Mother of the Book.. } (Aal ʿImran 7)”
- A Guide to Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, pp. 41-42: He builds on it his distinction between the verses of the Mother of the Book, which are unequivocal, and the ambiguous verses that are open to interpretation.
- Concept: The unequivocal and the ambiguous
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “It is part of the message, and it is the unequivocal verses of the Book and represents the verses of the Mother of the Book, by His saying, Exalted: { It is He who sent down to you the Book … } (Aal ʿImran 7)”
Related books
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1
- The Book and the Qur’an
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism
- A Guide to Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.