This locus 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
And We restored for him his wife
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur read God’s saying, “And We restored for him his wife,” and does he connect it to infertility and the waiting period?
Shahrur reads “And We restored for him his wife” as the healing of Zechariah’s wife from infertility and making her capable of bearing children, rather than as a merely moral reform. He cites this example in his discussion of women who do not menstruate due to illness, then states that their waiting period is connected to uterine clearance. However, the evidence does not make the verse itself an independent legal ruling on the waiting period; rather, he uses it as a medical example within a discussion of the waiting period.
Shahrur explicitly states that Zechariah’s wife was infertile, then that “God healed her, and she became capable of bearing children.” As evidence, he cites the verse, “So We answered him and granted him John, and We restored for him his wife.” Shahrur employs the verse as an example of a woman of childbearing age who does not menstruate because of a medical condition, in the context of his classification of the rulings on the waiting period; for this category, he determines that its waiting period is “uterine clearance.”
Evidence and Location
Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 255.
Limits of the Reading
- The precise evidence establishes that Shahrur understood the verse in relation to Zechariah’s wife’s infertility and her healing, but it does not provide a detailed linguistic analysis of the root “We restored” in this verse.
- The verse’s connection to the waiting period is not a ruling derived from the verse alone; rather, it appears within Shahrur’s juristic construction in his discussion of women who do not menstruate and uterine clearance.
- The attached evidence from “the Book and the Qur’an” discusses corruption and reform on earth; it does not cite The Prophets 90 and does not establish a claim concerning Zechariah’s wife. It therefore should not be taken as direct support for this page.
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Brief Reading
For Shahrur, the verse indicates that restoration here means removing infertility and restoring function; it is also linked to the waiting period and uterine clearance.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Juristic
Related Concepts
- Restoration: 2
- Childbearing: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It brings together the narrative meaning of the context of the prophets and a juristic indication concerning childbearing.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Example: 1
- Support: 1
Contexts of Use
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 122: He uses it to demonstrate that restoration here means removing infertility and restoring function, not moral reform.
- Concept: Restoration
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “When Zechariah’s wife was infertile, He said {.. AND WE RESTORED FOR HIM HIS WIFE} (The Prophets 90). Was his wife immoral and then became pious?”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 255–256: He cites it as evidence that the cessation of menstruation does not prevent pregnancy, and that the waiting period is connected to uterine clearance rather than menstruation alone.
- Concept: Childbearing
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “Then God healed her, and she became capable of bearing children: { SO WE ANSWERED HIM AND GRANTED HIM JOHN, AND WE RESTORED FOR HIM HIS WIFE }”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.