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.
The Verse Text as Cited
… and make us submitters to You …
Reader’s Response
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, “and make us submitters to You,” in defining Islam, and does the verse, in his view, establish a contrast between submission to God and surrender to people?
Shahrur employs the verse within a group of verses to argue that “Islam,” in his view, is faith in God and the Last Day coupled with righteous action. Elsewhere, he explicitly states that the association of “submitters” with God in the verse means “submission to Him,” and distinguishes this from “surrender” when the word is associated with people. However, the description of the verse as establishing a “request for guidance” is not stated in the accompanying excerpt.
Shahrur cites Al-Baqarah 128 among verses from whose context he infers that Islam is faith in the existence of God and the Last Day, coupled with righteous action.
Excerpt and Location
Islam and Faith — p. 14.
Limits of the Reading
- The excerpt in “Islam and Faith” does not describe the verse as a “prayer and request for guidance”; rather, it cites it in constructing his definition of Islam.
- The distinction between submission to God and surrender to people is established in the accompanying excerpt from “The Book and the Qur’an” (p. 534), not in the recorded instance of use in “Islam and Faith” (p. 14).
- This page presents Shahrur’s reading and his terminological argument; the excerpts alone do not establish that this distinction is the only or the agreed-upon interpretation of the verse.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur uses it to establish that Islam here is a prayer and request for guidance, and to distinguish the meaning of submission to God from that of surrender to people.
Axes
- Theological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- Prayer for Islam: 2
- Islam: 2
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It belongs to the network of semantic distinctions between closely related terms and their theological meanings.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 1
- Distinction: 1
Instances of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 14: He uses it to establish that Islam is a shared prayer and request for guidance among Abraham and his descendants.
- Concept: Prayer for Islam
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual excerpt: “{ Our Lord, and make us submitters to You… } (Al-Baqarah 128).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 534: He uses it to distinguish submission to God from surrender to people, rejecting the equation of the two terms.
- Concept: Islam
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual excerpt: “Thus, in verse 128 of Surat al-Baqarah, He said: {and make us submitters to You…}, and did not say ‘surrendered to You.’”
- Corresponding traditional reading: surrendered to You
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.