al-Isrāʾ 33

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This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it is among the foundational texts for the inviolability of life and for regulating killing by right. It is central for him because it prevents excess in retaliation, keeps retribution within its bounds, and ties the exception to right, not to emotion.

Verse text as cited

AND DO NOT KILL THE SOUL WHICH GOD HAS FORBIDDEN, EXCEPT BY RIGHT…

Brief reading

Shahrur understands the verse as limiting the killing of a soul to the place of right alone, and as making retribution defined and not open to expansion. From here, he rejects turning it into revenge, and makes the prohibition of excess part of protecting life and preventing the ruling from extending beyond the offender.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Human and ethical
  • Methodological
  • Inviolability of life: 3
  • Retribution: 3
  • Ijtihād: 2
  • Killing by right: 2
  • Excess: 2
  • The right to kill: 1

Its place in the conceptual network

The verse is linked to the inviolability of life, retribution, the right to kill, and excess. It is central because it provides his project with a basis for preserving life, defines the exception from the norm, and ties punishment to the control of law rather than to anger.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 3
  • Context: 2
  • Foundational: 2
  • Example: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • It establishes the inviolability of life and the regulation of killing.
  • It is linked to retribution and the prevention of excess.
  • It is used to reject broad revenge.

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

  • Islam and the Human: He interprets it as meaning that retribution is only from the killer himself and without excess or revenge.
    • Concept: Inviolability of life
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: «- { وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ … } (al-Isrāʾ 33)»
  • Islam and Faith, p. 77: He cites it among the decisive verses connected to preserving life, placing it in the context of the fixed values that evolved in the Muhammadan message.
    • Concept: Inviolability of life
    • Function of the verse here: Context
    • Textual citation: «- {وَلا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ…} (al-Isrāʾ 33).»
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 48: He includes it with the rest of the injunctions to affirm that it is among the inspired wisdom given to the messengers.
    • Concept: Retribution
    • Function of the verse here: Context
    • Textual citation: «And regarding the killing of the soul which God has forbidden except by right (al-Isrāʾ 33)»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 142: He uses it to say that the right to the exception of killing remains a matter of historical ijtihād among communities, not an absolute rigid ruling.
    • Concept: Ijtihād
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual citation: «{وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ} (al-Isrāʾ 33), which permits killing the soul by right»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He cites it to determine that execution, or lawful killing, is the utmost that the ruling reaches in crimes of unjustified killing.
    • Concept: Killing by right
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: «b- {وَلا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ …} (al-Isrāʾ 33).»
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 413: He understands the verse to mean that execution is the maximum punishment for intentional killing, and that the prohibition of excess prevents retribution from turning into revenge that goes beyond the offender to his family.
    • Concept: Retribution
    • Function of the verse here: Foundational
    • Textual citation: «{وَلا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ… فَلَا يُسْرِفْ فِي الْقَتْلِ…} (al-Isrāʾ 33). Here he clarifies the maximum punishment for killing without right, which is execution»
    • Counter-traditional reading: Revenge or killing the killer’s relatives in his place
  • Drying Up the Springs of Terrorism, p. 53: He makes it a broader formulation than the previous one because it restricts killing to right and expands the notion of soul to include animal and plant within lawful benefit.
    • Concept: The right to kill
    • Function of the verse here: Foundational
    • Textual citation: «Then the Muhammadan law came with something better than it, namely in His – تعالى – saying: {وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ … إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ} (al-Isrāʾ 33).»
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, pp. 50-51: He applies it to the killing of the killer to affirm that exceeding lawful retribution is prohibited excess.
    • Concept: Excess
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual citation: «And in the prohibited, in His تعالى saying: { وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ … فَلَا يُسْرِفْ فِي الْقَتْلِ }»

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

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Backlinks3

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas