This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
Rather, it is a glorious Qur’an, in a preserved tablet.
Reader’s Answer
Question
Where does Shahrur place Al-Buruj 21–22 within his conception of the Qur’an, what distinction does he derive from them, and what function do they serve in his argument?
Shahrur places the two verses in his account of what he calls the fixed part of the Qur’an: the general laws of material existence and the course of its inevitable development. In contrast, he posits a changing part connected to the “clear imam.” In this context, the two verses function as foundational evidence supporting the description of fixity and its not being a domain subject to change through human supplication.
Shahrur attributes Al-Buruj 21–22 to the fixed part of the Qur’an, describing this part as pertaining to the general laws of material existence and its development. He distinguishes between a fixed part, which he connects to the preserved tablet, and a changing part, which he connects to the clear imam; the evidence does not present this as a synonymy between the two terms. In Shahrur’s argument, the two verses serve a foundational function in establishing that the part he links to them does not change for anyone and is not a matter for human supplication.
Evidence and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 58.
Limits of the Reading
- This account establishes the location and function of the two verses in Shahrur’s framework on the basis of a single passage in The Book and the Qur’an only.
- The evidence does not establish an independent linguistic interpretation of the wording of the verses, nor does it establish that this distinction is agreed upon beyond Shahrur’s own proposal.
- The evidence does not establish a relationship between these verses and other verses not mentioned by the author in the attached passage.
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Brief Reading
The two verses are taken as a basis for the fixed part of the Qur’an and for what pertains to general laws that cannot be altered.
Axes
- Methodological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- The preserved tablet: 3
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It belongs to the network of concepts that distinguishes between the fixed and the ambiguous.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundation: 2
Contexts of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 58: He makes it the basis for the fixed part of the Qur’an, which represents general laws that cannot be changed, nor can one pray for them to change.
- Concept: the preserved tablet
- Function of the verse here: foundation
- Textual evidence: “{.. a glorious Qur’an * in a preserved tablet} (Al-Buruj 21–22)”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 13: He adduces it as evidence that the ambiguous, in his view, is connected to the preserved tablet, and thus includes cosmological verses and the attributes of God, rather than practical legislation.
- Concept: the preserved tablet
- Function of the verse here: foundation
- Textual evidence: “The ambiguous consists of all the verses concerning cosmology and the attributes of God (they came from the preserved tablet): {Rather, it is a glorious Qur’an (21), in a preserved tablet} (Al-Buruj 21, 22).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.