This page gathers four instances of the use of Āl Imran 85 in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, where it appears as an entry point to the question of Islam accepted by God. Its centrality lies in the fact that it distinguishes between the historical name of the religion and the meaning that Shahrur sees as the criterion of acceptance, so questions of acceptance and religion revolve around it.
The verse as cited
And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers
Brief reading
Shahrur uses the verse to raise a question about the meaning of Islam in the Qur’anic text, not about the creed as a historical identity. Through it, he affirms that acceptance is tied to Islam, and he uses it to determine the religion accepted by God, while keeping the meaning tied to the text itself rather than to later usage.
Axes
- Faith
- Methodological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- Islam: 2
- acceptance: 2
- accepted religion: 2
- religion: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
In the atlas, the verse is connected to the concepts of Islam, acceptance, and accepted religion. It is central because, for Shahrur, it represents a doorway to defining Islam from within the Qur’an, and it gives this definition a decisive place in understanding religion and its relationship to religious history.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Establishing: 2
- Context: 1
- Support: 1
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- An entry point to the meaning of Islam for him
- Associated with acceptance and accepted religion
- Distinguishes between Qur’anic and historical meaning
Instances of use
- Islam and the Human Being: takes it as an entry point to the question of the meaning of Islam with God and pushes toward returning to the Qur’anic text to understand it directly.
- Concept: Islam
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual citation: “Every time we stop at His saying تعالى: { وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلَامِ دِينًا … } (Āl Imran 85)”
- Islam and the Human Being: he cites it to argue that Islam is the accepted criterion with God, regardless of ritual creed.
- Concept: acceptance
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: ”{ وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ … } (Āl Imran 85)”
- Islam and Faith, p. 10: makes the verse an entry point for raising the question of the true meaning of Islam that God wills.
- Concept: accepted religion
- Function of the verse here: Establishing
- Textual citation: “Every time we stop at His saying تعالى: { وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ… } (Āl Imran 85)”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 534: uses it to state that Islam is the religionally accepted standard even if historical creeds differ.
- Concept: religion
- Function of the verse here: Establishing
- Textual citation: “And His saying {وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ..}”
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.