Al-Isra 16

3 min read

This axis gathers 3 places 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 when We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones, and they act wickedly in it; then the word becomes due against it, and We destroy it with utter destruction

Brief reading

The verse makes the affluent, affluence, and wickedness a sign of social disorder and the collapse of its system.

Axes

  • Political and social
  • Human and ethical
  • The affluent: 3
  • Affluence and transgression: 2

Its place in the network of concepts

It is linked to criticism of the affluent class and to the law of the destruction of the town when it rises above accountability.

The role of the verse in the argument

  • Establishing: 3

Pages in the atlas that refer to this verse

These links gather the pages that rely on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.

Places of use

  • State and Society, p. 113: makes it central to explaining that affluence and wickedness within the town lead to destruction as the result of a deviant monistic system.
    • Concept: affluence and transgression
    • Function of the verse here: establishing
    • Textual evidence: «{And when We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones, and they commit فسق in it; then the word becomes due against it, and We destroy it with utter destruction} (al-Isra 16)»
    • The corresponding traditional reading: interpretive readings that do not link destruction to the town’s monistic structure but only to individual disobedience.
  • State and Society: derives from it a law stating that class privileges and affluence above accountability lead to the destruction of the town/monistic system.
    • Concept: the affluent
    • Function of the verse here: establishing
    • Textual evidence: «{And when We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones…} (al-Isra 16)»
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, pp. 16, 20: makes it evidence that the destruction of the monistic society begins with the emergence of a class of affluent people who rise above the law.
    • Concept: the affluent
    • Function of the verse here: establishing
    • Textual evidence: «The answer is found in this verse: {And when We intend to destroy a town, We command its affluent ones…} (al-Isra 16)»

This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.

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