This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
Every soul shall taste death, and We test you with evil and good as a trial…
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur use The Prophets 35 in his discussion of ethics and values?
Shahrur uses the verse to establish that entrenching moral values does not require removing their opposite from reality; evil, in this reading, cannot be eliminated just as death cannot be eliminated.
Shahrur links good and evil to the phenomenon of death in the verse, making the aspiration to eliminate evil analogous to the aspiration to eliminate the law of death. He cites the verse as part of an argument that working to establish and deepen values does not mean negating their opposite from existence, and he describes this perspective as the realism of Islam in contrast to utopian illusion.
Citation and Location
Islam and Faith — p. 41.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation establishes this ethical use of the verse in the attached passage, but does not offer a detailed general interpretation of the testing or trial in the verse.
- The citation does not establish that the verse founds a comprehensive theory of evil, nor does it establish claims concerning its relations to other verses.
- The statement that evil is part of the “laws of life” goes beyond the wording established in the citation; more precisely, it cannot be eliminated according to the analogy Shahrur presents.
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Brief Reading
The verse is used to highlight the realism of Islamic ethics, and the fact that the existence of evil and testing is part of the laws of life and cannot be eliminated.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Human and ethical
Related Concepts
- testing: 3
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It links testing to a realistic understanding of ethics and existence.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 2
Instances of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 41: cited to demonstrate the realism of Islamic ethics and that evil cannot be entirely eliminated.
- Concept: testing
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: “{Every soul shall taste death, and We test you with evil and good as a trial…} (The Prophets 35).”
- Islam and Faith: adduced as evidence for the realism of Islam and for the fact that good and evil are a law inherent in life, like death; thus, it makes no sense to imagine eliminating evil from existence.
- Concept: testing
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: “He linked good and evil in this existence to the phenomenon of death in His saying, Most High: {Every soul shall taste death, and We test you with evil and good as a trial…}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.