This node gathers 3 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as cited
We sent no messenger except in the language of his people, so that he might make things clear to them…
Brief reading
The verse is used to establish the connection between the message and the language of the people, and to distinguish the linguistic community in the construction of social concepts.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Political and social
- Narrative and historical
Related concepts
- Language: 3
- The messenger’s people: 2
- Clarification: 1
- The umma: 1
- Nationality: 1
Its place in the conceptual network
It forms a foundation for linking clarification to collective identity and to the messenger’s people.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
- Foundational: 1
Instances of use
- Islam and Human Beings: He uses it to connect the people with the unity of language and clarification, as a prelude to distinguishing between the umma, nationality, and the people.
- Concept: language
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: «As God – the Exalted – said: { We sent no messenger except in the language of his people … } (Abraham 4)»
- The State and Society, pp. 62-63: The text makes it the decisive statement that links the message to the language of the people and establishes the idea that language is the instrument of clarification and thought among the people.
- Concept: language
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual evidence: «As in the saying of the Exalted in verse 4 of Surat Ibrahim, and it becomes clear to us that the concept of the umma is a subordinate concept within the concept of nationality…»
- The State and Society, p. 136: He cites it to identify the Prophet’s people in Mecca, and thus to interpret Umm al-Qura as Mecca the Honored.
- Concept: the messenger’s people
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: «According to what came in the saying of the Exalted: {We sent no messenger except in the language of his people …} (Abraham 4), the Prophet’s people (peace be upon him) are Quraysh, the people of Mecca»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.