Al Imran 97

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This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it is among the texts through which he links ritual observance to capability, and makes it an example of how obligation is inseparable from ability and safety. It is central to him because it situates the rite within the bounds of possibility, rather than in the form of abstract compulsion.

The verse as cited

And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House—whoever is able to find thereto a way

Brief reading

Shahrur reads the verse to mean that the pilgrimage is an obligation conditioned by capability, and that security is part of the meaning of proper performance. He therefore treats it as an example of how rulings address the capable, morally responsible person, not everyone indiscriminately without regard to ability or circumstance.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Faith-based
  • Human and ethical
  • Capability: 4
  • Pilgrimage: 2
  • Security: 2
  • Rituals: 2
  • Judgment: 1

Its place in the network of concepts

The verse is linked to capability, pilgrimage, security, and rituals. It is central because it gives his project a model for the relationship between obligation and ability, and indicates that rituals cannot be understood apart from their real-world condition.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 3
  • Foundation: 2
  • Critique of the heritage: 1
  • Example: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • Pilgrimage is conditioned by capability
  • It is tied to security and rituals
  • A clear example of the capacity of the morally responsible person

Places of use

  • Islam and the Human Being: He cites it to argue that pilgrimage is one of the rituals restricted by financial capability rather than moral capability.
    • Concept: pilgrimage
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «- Pilgrimage to the House: { … and due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find thereto a way… } (Al Imran 97)»
  • Islam and Faith, p. 49: He uses it to establish that pilgrimage is an obligation conditioned by capability, and that the duty pertains to the capable, morally responsible person.
    • Concept: capability
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «{… and due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find thereto a way…} (Al Imran 97).»
  • Islam and Faith, p. 259: He makes it an example of the meaning of capability as ability involving effort and exertion.
    • Concept: capability
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «The first appears in His saying تعالى: {And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find thereto a way…} (Al Imran 97)»
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 92: He employs it to say that the sanctuary was established as a secure place, free from the ritual of human sacrificial offerings that Abraham had ended.
    • Concept: security
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the heritage
    • Textual evidence: «So the Ancient House became the station of Abraham {… and whoever enters it is secure…} Al Imran 97, meaning secure from the ritual of human sacrificial offerings reaching him.»
    • Countervailing traditional reading: the ritual of human sacrificial offerings
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 140: He uses it to show that if the rulings of the Mother of the Book were deterministic, people would perform pilgrimage by instinct; for him, this proves that it is a discretionary legislation.
    • Concept: judgment
    • Function of the verse here: example
    • Textual evidence: «{And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House…} (Al Imran 97), for in this verse there is a command God made incumbent upon people, namely pilgrimage»
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 17: He uses it as an example of how obligation is tied to the capability that a person determines for himself.
    • Concept: capability
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «or “due to Allah from the people”, such as: {And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find thereto a way} (Al Imran 97)»
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 101: He classifies it among the obligations conditioned by capability, not among absolute duties incumbent on everyone without conditions.
    • Concept: rituals
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «3- Pilgrimage: { … And due to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House for whoever is able to find thereto a way … } (Al Imran 97).»

This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas