This axis brings together 1 instance of this verse’s use in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
And We have bound every person’s fate to their neck, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall bring forth for them a record which they will find laid open.
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ Qur’an 17:13 in his discussion of individual responsibility and the limits of state intervention?
Shahrur reads the verse as evidence for the individuality of reckoning in the hereafter: every person has their own “bird” and their own open record. From this individuality, he infers that each person is accountable before God for their actions, and he places this within his conception of the civil state, which does not coerce people into religiosity or intervene in their choices except within the framework of ethical reference and social conventions. The available evidence clearly establishes his connection of the verse to the individuality of reward, punishment, and responsibility; however, the excerpt itself does not contain an explicit statement on “collective punishment.”
The verse presents eschatological reckoning in an individual form: every person is bound to their bird, and a record which they find laid open is brought forth for them on the Day of Resurrection. Shahrur employs the verse to argue that reward and punishment in the next life are individual rather than collective. From the individuality of reckoning, Shahrur concludes that each individual is solely responsible before God for their actions in this world. He places this argument within the context of his defense of a civil state that does not use coercion to force people into religiosity, and he regards religiosity as an individual relationship with God.
Evidence and location
The State and Society — p. 208.
Limits of the reading
- The evidence is an excerpt from a longer context and ends before the next sentence, beginning with the phrase “It therefore follows that his reward should come,” is completed.
- The excerpt establishes a discussion of the individuality of eschatological reward and punishment, but does not establish in detail a direct position on every form of collective punishment in law or politics.
- The move from eschatological reckoning to a theory of the state is an inferential path presented by Shahrur in the same context; the verse alone is not a detailed statement of a political or legal system.
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Brief reading
The verse is used to establish that reckoning is individual; from this, Shahrur rejects collective punishment and affirms individual freedom and responsibility.
Axes
- Political and social
Related concepts
- Individual responsibility: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is directly connected to the idea of the individual in society and to the limits of authority over people.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Foundational: 1
Instances of use
- The State and Society, p. 208: He employs the verse to establish that reckoning in the hereafter is individual, and then builds upon it a rejection of collective punishment and an affirmation of individual freedom and responsibility.
- Concept: Individual responsibility
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “By examining its texts, we can discern that punishment and reward on the Day of Resurrection are mentioned as individual rather than collective, in His—Exalted is He—saying: {And We have bound every person’s fate to their neck …} (Al-Isra’ 13).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.