This axis gathers 2 instances of Muhammad Shahrur’s use of this verse in his books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse as quoted
O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, so that you may become mindful.
Brief reading
Shahrur cites it to criticize the conflation of the occasion of revelation with the Meccan and Medinan classification, and to reject making the wording alone a fixed criterion.
Axes
- Methodological
- Narrative and historical
Related concepts
- Meccan and Medinan: 2
- Meccan/Medinan classification: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is linked to a review of the traditional tools for classifying the Qur’anic text.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of heritage: 2
Instances of use
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1, p. 83: He cites it as an example of al-Wahidi’s conflation of the occasion of revelation with the Meccan/Medinan classification, then rejects this interpretation because it is not an occasion of revelation.
- Concept: Meccan and Medinan
- Function of the verse here: Critique of heritage
- Textual citation: “In explaining the occasion of revelation of the saying of the Exalted: {O mankind, worship your Lord …} (al-Baqarah: 21): ‘Everything in which it says “O mankind” is Meccan, and everything in which it says “O you who believe” is Medinan.’”
- Corresponding traditional reading: al-Wahidi makes everything containing “O mankind” Meccan, and everything containing “O you who believe” Medinan.
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 2, p. 83: He invokes the verse to respond to making the form of address an automatic criterion for determining Meccan/Medinan, and considers that an erroneous classification.
- Concept: Meccan/Medinan classification
- Function of the verse here: Critique of heritage
- Textual citation: “In explaining the occasion of revelation of the saying of the Exalted: {O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, so that you may become mindful} (al-Baqarah: 21): ‘Everything in which it says “O mankind” is Meccan…’”
- Corresponding traditional reading: the rule attributed to al-Wahidi: everything containing “O mankind” is Meccan, and “O you who believe” is Medinan.
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.