This axis brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The Verse as Cited
{But your people have denied it, though it is the truth. Say: “I am not a guardian over you.”}
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Almighty’s statement, {Say: “I am not a guardian over you”}, in his discussion of the Messenger’s function?
Shahrur employs the verse within a group of verses that deny the quality of guardianship over people to the Messenger. That is, he does not present the Messenger as being charged with taking charge of people or compelling them to adopt a particular position; rather, he cites the verse as evidence for the denial of such guardianship.
Shahrur cites Al-An’am 66 in the context of adducing verses that deny that the Messenger is a guardian over people.
Evidence and Location
State and Society — p. 303.
Limits of the Reading
- The attached evidence is a list of successive verses on a single page and does not include the surrounding interpretive passage. It therefore establishes Shahrur’s inclusion of the verse in denying guardianship, but does not by itself establish an extended explanation of the meaning of “guardian.”
- The phrase “imposing a position on people” summarizes the direction of this use, but the direct textual evidence establishes the denial of guardianship and does not explain the mechanisms or forms of imposition.
- It is not valid to construct a detailed relationship between the verse and the state or legislation from this evidence alone.
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Brief Reading
Shahrur cites it to deny that the Messenger’s function is to impose positions on people or to act as their guardian.
Axes
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Denial of guardianship: 2
- The Messenger’s function: 1
- Imposing a position: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the critique of inherited conceptions of the Messenger’s authority and the limits of his role.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Critique of tradition: 1
Loci of Use
- State and Society, p. 303: He makes it additional evidence that the Messenger’s function is not to impose a position on people.
- Concept: Denial of guardianship
- The verse’s function here: Critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “- {But your people have denied it, though it is the truth. Say: ‘I am not a guardian over you.’} (Al-An’am 66),”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.