This axis 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.
Text of the Verse as Cited
Whoever transgresses against you, then transgress against him in the same measure as he transgressed against you. And be mindful of God, and know that God is with the mindful.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Shahrur read the Almighty’s statement, “Whoever transgresses against you, then transgress against him in the same measure as he transgressed against you,” in the context of fighting and responding to aggression?
Shahrur employs the verse to establish that an external or internal assault on lives, property, honor, or freedoms justifies fighting or response, provided that it is “in the same measure” as the aggression and does not exceed it. In his presentation, fighting is not a means of expansion, but a constrained response to an actual aggression; the command to be mindful of God remains an ethical restriction inseparable from this response.
Shahrur considers external or internal aggression against lives, property, honor, and freedoms to be one of the causes of fighting, relying in this on Al-Baqarah 194.
Citation and Location
Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 93.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation establishes Shahrur’s use of the verse in identifying a cause for fighting and the condition of proportionality, but it does not provide a complete procedural account of how proportionality is to be assessed or which authority is entitled to respond.
- Shahrur’s enumeration of lives, property, honor, and freedoms is his interpretive formulation in this passage; it should therefore not be presented as wording found in the text of the verse itself.
- The citation does not establish that the verse alone grounds Shahrur’s complete theory of fighting; on the same page, he includes other causes and cites other verses.
Continue Here
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism
- Legitimate Fighting Is Defensive and Constrained by the Purpose of Freedom
Brief Reading
The verse establishes the principle of responding to aggression in kind, within equivalent limits and without excess.
Axes
- Legislative
- Political and social
Related Concepts
- Aggression: 2
- Proportionality in fighting: 2
- Proportionality and retribution: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It contributes to constructing a conception of legitimate fighting based on retribution and proportionality.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 3
Atlas Pages 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.
Related Structural Theses
Instances of Use
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 93: He makes aggression against life, property, or freedom a third cause that justifies fighting through proportionality rather than expansion.
- Concept: aggression
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual citation: “The occurrence of an external or internal aggression … in accordance with His—exalted is He—statement: {Whoever transgresses against you, then transgress against him…}”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 101: He makes the verse a foundation of a system of fighting based on proportionality and the removal of injustice within equivalent limits.
- Concept: proportionality in fighting
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual citation: “And His—exalted is He—statement: {Whoever transgresses against you, then transgress against him in the same measure as he transgressed against you…} (Al-Baqarah 194), … are two provisions of this integrated system.”
- Contrasting traditional reading: some exegetes and jurists who held that the verse prohibits initiating fighting
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, pp. 114–115: He places it within his elaboration of fighting in order to establish that responding to aggression must be in kind, without excess or grossness.
- Concept: proportionality and retribution
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual citation: “Al-Baqarah (194) | {The sacred month for the sacred month … Whoever transgresses against you, then transgress against him in the same measure as he transgressed against you}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for constructing the atlas.