This hub brings together 3 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse as cited
Has your Lord then favored you with sons while He has taken for Himself from among the angels females? Truly, you are saying a terrible thing.
Brief reading
The verse is invoked to critique traditional conceptions of the image of angels and to connect them to the ancient context of motherhood.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- Motherhood: 2
- Sons: 2
- Angels: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is linked to a historical reading of mental images and to an understanding of the meaning of terms in their context.
The role of the verse in the argument
- Critique of tradition: 2
- Support: 1
Instances of use
- The State and Society, p. 79: He uses it to affirm that ancient consciousness was tied to the female/mother, to the point that personifying angels in female form became a concept in that context.
- Concept: Motherhood
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “And for this reason we find His, exalted is He, saying: {Has your Lord then favored you with sons while He has taken from among the angels females? Truly, you are saying a terrible thing} (Al-Isra 40)”
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 2, p. 51: He employs it together with An-Nahl 72 to affirm that the discussion here is about structure/composition, not about the meaning of male children only.
- Concept: Sons
- Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “And in His, exalted is He, saying: {Has your Lord then favored you with sons while He has taken from among the angels females…} (Al-Isra 40)”
- Countervailing traditional reading: Male children
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 130-131: He cites it to critique the belief that angels are female, within the debate between the age of motherhood and fatherhood.
- Concept: Angels
- Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “{Has your Lord then favored you with sons while He has taken from among the angels females…} (Al-Isra 40).”
Related books
- The State and Society
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 2
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.