Al-Ahzab 59

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This page brings together four instances of the use of Qur’an 33:59 in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, where it appears as a provisional instruction tied to a specific social reality. Its centrality lies in linking the jilbab to the prevention of social harm, and in distinguishing context-bound discourse from a permanent obligation upon all.

Text of the Verse as Cited

O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers to draw part of their outer garments over themselves. That is more likely that they will be recognized and not harmed. And God is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Shahrur employ Qur’an 33:59 in his reading of the jilbab?

In the available evidence, Shahrur employs the verse as connected to a social situation in Medina: distinguishing free women when they went out so that they would not be subjected to harm. On the basis of this context, he describes drawing the jilbab close as “a measure and arrangement for addressing an exceptional situation”; that is, the center of his reading is the preventive social function that he attributes to the occasion of revelation and to transmitted exegesis, rather than merely defining a form of dress detached from context.

Shahrur presents the drawing close of the jilbab in the verse as a means by which free women would be recognized when going out, so that libertines would not subject them to harm, relying on a report from al-Tabari by way of the book Islam and Sex in the First Hijri Century. From this presentation, Shahrur concludes that the jilbab was adopted “as a measure and arrangement for addressing an exceptional situation that had entered Medinan society.”

Evidence and Location

Toward New Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 276.

Limits of the Reading

  • The evidence consists of one page duplicated in the data, despite a difference in the page number in one field; its repetition should therefore not be treated as an independent plurality of evidence.
  • The passage reports an exegesis and a historical context, then Shahrur comments on it; in the attached portion, it does not offer a detailed independent demonstration of all the conclusions of the contemporary juristic reading.
  • This evidence alone does not justify attributing, categorically, the claim that the jilbab is “temporary clothing for going out” or that it “is not an eternal obligation.”
  • The evidence does not address a grammatical analysis of the verse’s terms, such as “from their outer garments” or “more likely,” and thus no claim of partitivity or approximation should be based on it.

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Brief Reading

Shahrur uses the verse to interpret the jilbab as clothing for going out into society, not as a general eternal ruling. He also links it to a clear social cause based on recognition and harm, and takes the wording of the verse to indicate partitivity and approximation, in keeping with his reading of it as instruction for a particular circumstance.

Axes

  • Political and social
  • Legislative
  • Methodological
  • Jilbab: 3
  • Instruction, not legislation: 2
  • Social harm: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

The verse belongs to a network bringing together the jilbab, instruction rather than legislation, and social harm. It is central because it gives clothing for going out a meaning tied to context and links women’s presence in society to the prevention of harm, without converting the text into an absolute ruling beyond its setting.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Foundational: 3
  • Distinguishing: 1

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

  • It is read as guidance for a social circumstance
  • It is connected to the jilbab and social harm
  • It distinguishes instruction from legislation

Atlas Pages That Refer to This Verse

These links gather the pages that rely on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.

Instances of Use

  • Toward New Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 276: He regards it as an instructional verse for a particular social circumstance, making the jilbab temporary clothing for going out to avert harm, rather than an eternal obligation.
    • Concept: jilbab
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “{ O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters… } (Al-Ahzab 59)”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: a permanent legislative ruling upon the women of the believers
  • Toward New Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 298: He cites it as evidence that the address is directed to the Prophet as provisional instruction to prevent harm, not as eternal legislation imposing fixed dress.
    • Concept: instruction, not legislation
    • Function of the verse here: distinguishing
    • Textual evidence: “{ O Prophet, tell your wives … } (Al-Ahzab 59). Here the verse began with the words: { O Prophet }; thus, it is a verse of instruction, not a verse of legislation.”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: the verse was understood in Medina in a context-bound manner and was connected to sparing believing women from exposure to harm
  • Toward New Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 298: He makes it foundational for social dress when going out, reading min as partitive and yudnīna as approximation rather than absolute obligation.
    • Concept: jilbab
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “This verse teaches believing women exclusively about outer clothing, or clothing for going out into society, which it calls the jilbab … Thus it says: { to draw part of their outer garments over themselves } (Al-Ahzab 59), indicating partitivity.”
  • Toward New Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 298: He explains the purpose of the jilbab as avoiding social harm arising from recognition and mingling, rather than as a fixed act of worship.
    • Concept: social harm
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “For the cause has been stated: recognition and harm … Note the causal faʾ and the sequence between recognition and harm, which is what we call social harm.”

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas