Al-A'raf 31

4 min read

This axis brings together 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

O children of Adam, take your adornment at every mosque

Reader’s answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read God’s saying: “O children of Adam, take your adornment at every mosque; eat and drink, but do not be excessive”?

Shahrur employs the verse to define excess as crossing from the sphere of what is lawful into what is forbidden, rather than merely having more or less in quantity. For him, the verse mentions eating and drinking within what is lawful and then prohibits exceeding its limit into what is forbidden.

Shahrur defines excess as “overreaching and going too far in departing from the lawful into the forbidden,” and cites Al-A’raf 31 as an example that the prohibition of excess does not make the abundance or scarcity of what is lawful the criterion in itself, but rather prevents crossing from the lawful into the forbidden.

Citation and location

A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation — p. 50.

Limits of the reading

  • The available citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse in defining excess, but it does not establish the claim that the verse regulates clothing with the aim of “removing hardship.”
  • This citation does not provide an independent elaboration of the meaning of “adornment” or of the practical rulings on clothing at every mosque.
  • The definition of excess here is Shahrur’s interpretive reading, rather than an account of exegetical or legal disagreement concerning the verse.

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Brief reading

The verse grounds an understanding of adornment and clothing within a regulation that removes hardship, and defines excess as transgressing the permitted limit even within what is lawful.

Axes

  • Legal
  • Human and ethical
  • Methodological
  • Adornment: 3
  • Excess: 2
  • Clothing: 1
  • Permitted limit: 1
  • Covering: 1

Its place in the network of concepts

It is connected to regulating what is permissible through limits on use and to distinguishing adornment from excess.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 1
  • Foundation: 1
  • Example: 1

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

  • Islam and Faith, p. 49: He understands it within the rulings on clothing as a regulation intended to remove hardship from people, rather than mere moral exhortation.
    • Concept: adornment
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual citation: “{… TAKE YOUR ADORNMENT AT EVERY MOSQUE}”
  • A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 50: He makes it an example of the idea that excess occurs within what is lawful when it exceeds the permitted limit.
    • Concept: excess
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual citation: “Within what is lawful, we find in God’s saying: { O CHILDREN OF ADAM, TAKE YOUR ADORNMENT … AND DO NOT BE EXCESSIVE … } (Al-A’raf 31).”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 290: He uses it together with the Light Verse to connect situational adornment with the required covering in women’s clothing.
    • Concept: adornment
    • Function of the verse here: example
    • Textual citation: “{ O CHILDREN OF ADAM, TAKE YOUR ADORNMENT AT EVERY MOSQUE } (Al-A’raf 31)”

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas