al-Baqarah 187

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This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it is among the texts that reveal, in his reading, the precision of the limits in fasting and the marital relationship. It is central for him because it enables him to bring together the legal ruling and the figurative meaning within a single phrase.

The verse as it appears

… AND EAT AND DRINK UNTIL THE WHITE THREAD BECOMES DISTINCT FOR YOU… THEN COMPLETE THE FAST UNTIL NIGHT

Brief reading

Shahrur reads the verse as a statement of the limits of fasting at night, and also as an example of how clothing may indicate concealment and relationship, not merely garments. He therefore connects it to the concept of metaphor and to understanding spouses as mutual covering and tranquility.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Limits of fasting: 2
  • Fasting: 2
  • Marital relationship: 2
  • Limits: 2
  • Metaphor: 2
  • Rulings of fasting: 1
  • Lexical substitution: 1
  • Tranquility: 1

Its place in the network of concepts

The verse is linked to the limits of fasting, the marital relationship, limits, and metaphor. It is central because it opens for him a way to read words on more than one level, and links the legal ruling to linguistic meaning.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 5
  • Example: 2
  • Distinction: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • It is connected to the limits of fasting and the marital relationship.
  • It is used to highlight the meaning of metaphor.
  • It makes spouses a mutual covering and tranquility.

Places of use

  • Islam and Faith, p. 82: He cites it to argue that fasting in the Muhammadan community includes abstaining from food, drink, and sexual intercourse until night.
    • Concept: Limits of fasting
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: ”- { ALLOWED TO YOU ON THE NIGHT OF THE FAST… THEN COMPLETE THE FAST UNTIL NIGHT… } (al-Baqarah 187),”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 52: He mentions it as an example of fixed written rulings on which he relies to establish the hypothesis of bequest.
    • Concept: Fasting
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: “and fighting (al-Baqarah 216) and fasting (al-Baqarah 187)”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 98: He cites it to explain the details of the fasting rite in Islam, especially what pertains to the night of fasting and the limits of abstention.
    • Concept: Rulings of fasting
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: “{ALLOWED TO YOU ON THE NIGHT OF FASTING IS INTIMACY WITH YOUR WIVES …} al-Baqarah 187.”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 504: He cites it to affirm the mutual complementarity between spouses instead of imagining one of them as the other’s possession.
    • Concept: Marital relationship
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: ”{.. THEY ARE A GARMENT FOR YOU, AND YOU ARE A GARMENT FOR THEM} (al-Baqarah 187).”
  • Drying Up the Springs of Terrorism, p. 171: He uses it to distinguish between distorting meaning and distorting the words themselves, considering the latter another kind of distortion.
    • Concept: Lexical substitution
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “{WHOEVER CHANGES IT AFTER HE HAS HEARD IT…} (al-Baqarah 187).”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 223: He uses it as an example of the idea of divine limits that may not be transgressed or even approached.
    • Concept: Limits
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual evidence: “at times, as in His saying – تعالى – about the limits of fasting: { THOSE ARE THE LIMITS OF GOD, SO DO NOT COME NEAR THEM } (al-Baqarah 187)”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 226: He uses it to interpret the meaning of the marital relationship as concealment and mutual affection, not merely sexual satisfaction.
    • Concept: Tranquility
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: “This becomes clear also in His saying: { ALLOWED TO YOU ON THE NIGHT OF FASTING IS INTIMACY WITH YOUR WIVES; THEY ARE A GARMENT FOR YOU, AND YOU ARE A GARMENT FOR THEM } (al-Baqarah 187)”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 272: He makes it evidence that clothing may mean relationship and moral concealment, not material fabric.
    • Concept: Metaphor
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual evidence: ”{ THEY ARE A GARMENT FOR YOU, AND YOU ARE A GARMENT FOR THEM } (al-Baqarah 187)“

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas