This axis 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
{And had God willed, they would not have associated others with Him. We have not made you a guardian over them, nor are you their agent.}
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s saying, {We have not made you a guardian over them, nor are you their agent}, in his discussion of freedom of belief?
Shahrur employs the verse to establish that the Messenger is not charged with guardianship over people or with compelling them to adopt a doctrinal position; his role, in this context, does not make him an agent acting on their behalf in their choices. He places it among verses that he reads as denying the authority to impose religion upon individuals and as affirming the human being’s freedom to determine their opinion and position.
Shahrur cites Al-An’am 107 within a group of verses to show that God did not make the Messenger a guardian over people or an agent on their behalf. Shahrur understands the negation of guardianship and agency here as a denial of the Messenger’s right—and, a fortiori, of anyone else’s right—to impose a particular position on people or exercise religious guardianship over their choices.
Citation and location
State and Society — p. 303.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes that Shahrur adduces the verse in rejecting the imposition of positions and religious guardianship, but the excerpt does not provide a detailed linguistic analysis of the terms “guardian” and “agent.”
- This excerpt alone does not establish specific institutional details concerning the form of the state or the mechanisms of legislation; these require other passages from the book.
- Linking the verse to concepts such as “democracy” and “freedom” is a contemporary Shahrurian application mentioned in the citation, not a conclusion attributed to the Qur’anic wording alone without further argument.
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Brief reading
Shahrur draws on it to show that the Messenger is not an agent over people’s beliefs and is not responsible for compelling them to believe.
Axes
- Political and social
- Faith
Related concepts
- Negation of agency: 2
- Freedom of belief: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It belongs to a network that distinguishes between the message and control over human conviction.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of tradition: 1
Loci of use
- State and Society, p. 303: He adduces it to show that the Messenger is not an agent over people’s beliefs and is not responsible for coercing them into faith.
- Concept: Negation of agency
- Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
- Textual citation: “- {And had God willed, they would not have associated others with Him. We have not made you a guardian over them, nor are you their agent.} (Al-An’am 107),”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.