This axis brings together 3 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as cited
It is not lawful for you to have women thereafter … except those whom your right hand possesses, and God is ever watchful over all things
Brief reading
The verse comes as an example of a temporal ruling tied to the context of the Prophet, and of reading the exception as specific to his era.
Axes
- Legislative
- Narrative and historical
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Bondwomen and concubines: 2
- Temporal ruling: 2
- Prophetic exception: 2
- Thereafter: 1
Its place in the conceptual network
It is linked to highlighting legislative time and the limits of exception in prophetic discourse.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of the heritage: 1
- Example: 1
- Support: 1
Instances of use
- State and Society, p. 267: He cites the traditional reading that confines the exception to bondwomen and concubines, as a prelude to reinterpreting it.
- Concept: Bondwomen and concubines
- Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
- Textual evidence: «According to al-Tabari: ”… and even if their beauty pleased him, except the bondwomen and the concubines”»
- Corresponding traditional reading: Bondwomen and concubines
- The Qur’anic Narrative, Vol. 1, p. 129: He uses it to affirm that “thereafter” may come in the context of a later temporal ruling connected to what precedes it, without the need to mention the annexed term.
- Concept: Temporal ruling
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: «{IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR YOU TO HAVE WOMEN THEREAFTER…} (Al-Ahzab: 52)»
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 231: He adduces it to show that the right of possession in the Prophet’s case came in the context of a specific exception tied to the customs of his era and society.
- Concept: Prophetic exception
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: «Likewise, the possibility of right-hand possession was annulled for him: { IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR YOU TO HAVE WOMEN THEREAFTER … EXCEPT THOSE WHOM YOUR RIGHT HAND POSSESSES … } (Al-Ahzab 52)»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.