This entry brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
{.. All swim in an orbit}
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s saying, “All swim in an orbit”?
Shahrur employs the verse to argue that falak in the Arabic language means circularity, and accordingly understands swimming in an orbit as curved rather than straight motion. He generalizes this understanding to cosmic entities, from the smallest particles to the largest, and presents it as an example of what he calls the transition of a text’s signification from the domain of the intelligible to that of the perceptible as knowledge advances.
Shahrur defines falak as circularity, citing the expression “the orbit of a girl’s breasts,” meaning that they became rounded. He understands the statement “All swim in an orbit” to mean that everything in the universe moves within orbits—that is, in curved rather than straight motion—and explicitly generalizes this from the smallest particles to the largest. Shahrur places this usage within his conception of “direct interpretation”: correlating what humans perceive among sensible things with the text. He holds that this signification has become known in our age after having formerly belonged to the realm of intelligibles.
Citation and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 164.
Limits of the Reading
- The verse on the page is excerpted; it is the citation that clearly attributes the interpretation of circularity and curved motion to Shahrur.
- The phrase “everything in the universe” should not be turned into an independent scientific proposition endorsed by the page; it is part of Shahrur’s generalization in the citation.
- This citation alone is insufficient for judging Shahrur’s overall method of interpretation or for comparing his reading with other exegetical readings.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur cites it as evidence that the motion of entities in the cosmos is curved within orbits rather than straight.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Orbit and motion: 2
- Curved motion: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It belongs to his network linking language to cosmological conception.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 1
Loci of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 164: He employs it to affirm that the motion of entities in the cosmos is curved within orbits, not straight.
- Concept: orbit and motion
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: “And He said, {.. All swim in an orbit} … Thus, everything in this universe … moves within orbits.”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.