Al-Ahqaf 7

3 min read

This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

Text of the Verse as Cited

… This is manifest magic.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Almighty’s statement, “This is manifest magic,” in al-Ahqaf 7?

Shahrur employs the verse to argue that some Arabs who disbelieved received the Qur’an, in the context he discusses, as speech they did not comprehend; thus they described it as “manifest magic.” He contrasts this with the believers’ faith in it as “submission,” in his formulation. This is Shahrur’s interpretive use of the verse, not a comprehensive account of all its meanings or of the entire context of the surah.

Shahrur attributes the description “This is manifest magic” in al-Ahqaf 7 to the disbelievers’ statement about the Qur’an. He explains this description as resulting from the disbelievers’ failure to comprehend what they encountered in the Qur’an, then contrasts their position with that of the believer, who believed in it in submission.

Evidence and Location

The Book and the Qur’an — p. 115.

Limits of the Reading

  • The evidence conveys Shahrur’s use of the verse within a broader discussion of the Arabs’ understanding of the Qur’an, and is not by itself sufficient to establish a general theory about the unseen or about the position of all disbelievers.
  • The phrase “an unseen matter” does not occur in the attached evidence text; what is established in it is Shahrur’s explanation of the description as magic by a lack of comprehension.
  • The contrast between the disbeliever and the believer in Shahrur’s words should not be turned into a definitive interpretive judgment on the meaning of the verse outside this use.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

The verse is used as an example of the disbelievers’ reception of the Qur’an as an unseen matter they did not comprehend, in contrast to faithful submission to it.

Axes

  • Narrative and historical
  • Faith-based
  • Position of the disbelievers: 2
  • Submission: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It places the position of denial in contrast with that of submission within a historical context for the Qur’an’s discourse.

Role of the Verse in the Argument

  • Example: 1
  • Context: 1

Instances of Use

  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 115: It is cited as evidence that the disbelievers received the Qur’an as an unseen matter and classified it as magic because they did not comprehend it.
    • Concept: Position of the disbelievers
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual evidence: “Those who disbelieved said … {THIS IS MANIFEST MAGIC} (al-Ahqaf 7).”
  • The Book and the Qur’an: It is cited to show that some Arabs encountered the Qur’an as an unseen truth they did not comprehend; thus the disbeliever’s response was that it was magic, whereas the believer believed in it in submission.
    • Concept: Submission
    • Function of the verse here: Context
    • Textual evidence: “{… disbelieved in the truth when it came to them: THIS IS MANIFEST MAGIC} (al-Ahqaf 7). Why? And how did the Arabs, believers and disbelievers alike, understand…”

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

Graph View

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas