Al-Ahzab 36

4 min read

This entry 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 Text of the Verse as Cited

And it is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when God and His Messenger have decided a matter, to have any choice in their matter …

Reader’s Answer

Question

Where does the verse occur, how does Shahrur use it to distinguish between irrevocable decree and legislative command, and what function does it serve in his argument?

The verse occurs in Surat al-Ahzab (36). Shahrur cites it as evidence that what it mentions is not an irrevocable decree or an eternal inscription of the event, but rather a command and a prohibition, the violation of which entails being described as disobedience. He applies this to the example of Zayd and Zaynab’s marriage in his objection to understanding predestination as the inevitable fulfillment of eternal knowledge.

Shahrur reads the verse as a command and prohibition, not as an irrevocable decree, and regards the occurrence of choice and disobedience in it as evidence, in his view, for this distinction. He therefore denies that Zayd and Zaynab’s marriage was written from eternity.

Citation and Location

The State and Society — p. 24.

Limits of the Reading

  • The citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse to deny irrevocable decree in the stated example; it does not establish that the legislative command was issued after the particular event.
  • The citation does not state that judgment here is connected to a revealed law, nor does it establish a generalization of the verse to all events or rulings.
  • This citation alone does not yield a general ruling on the synonymy or non-synonymy of the terms judgment, predestination, and choice.

Continue From Here

Brief Reading

The verse is used to distinguish a ruling connected to a particular event from any deterministic generalization, and to link judgment to revealed law.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Methodological
  • Political and social
  • Choice: 2
  • Judgment: 2
  • Context: 2
  • Particular event: 1

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It belongs to the network that distinguishes the particular from the general, and judgment from personalization.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Distinction: 2
  • Foundation: 1

Instances of Use

  • The State and Society, p. 24: He affirms through it that the negation of choice in the verse does not mean eternal determinism, but rather that it is a legislative command issued after a particular event.
    • Concept: choice
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual citation: “{And it is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when God and His Messenger have decided a matter…} (al-Ahzab 36).”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: understanding the verse as evidence of deterministic predestinarian decree
  • The State and Society, p. 233: He cites it as evidence that judicial authority is connected to revealed law, not to the persons of judges.
    • Concept: judgment
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual citation: “And this was entrusted from the مقام of messengerhood in His—Exalted is He—saying: {And it is not for a believing man or a believing woman …} (al-Ahzab 36).”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 232: He distinguishes between a particular context concerning the incident of Zaynab and turning the verse into general legislation, rejecting its generalization by jurists.
    • Concept: context
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual citation: “We read His—Exalted is He—saying: {And it is not for a believing man or a believing woman…} (al-Ahzab 36). In its context, this verse speaks of a specific event involving the Messenger and Zaynab … but it is not legislation; rather, it is narrative.”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: according to the concept of the esteemed learned scholars, on the basis that scholars are the heirs of prophets, they came to marry whomever they wished by their own decision, using this verse

This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.

Graph View

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas