This node brings together 1 instance of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
And when We said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam,” they prostrated themselves, except Iblis; he refused, grew arrogant, and became one of the disbelievers.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 2:34 in his reading of the stages of human creation?
Shahrur employs the verse within a comparison between the sequence of Qur’an 2:30–34 and the stages of creation set out in Qur’an 38:71–74. In this sequence, he takes the command to the angels to prostrate in verse 34 to signify what comes after the completion of formation, while linking verses 31–33 to the beginning of the “breathing of the spirit” or the “beginning of humanization.”
Shahrur reads Qur’an 2:34 within the sequence of Qur’an 2:30–34 and compares this sequence with that of the stages of creation in Qur’an 38:71–74. According to this ordering, Shahrur holds that the statement in Qur’an 2:30, “I am placing a successor on earth,” indicates the completion of formation, and that the command to the angels to prostrate in Qur’an 2:34 comes afterward in the sequence he presents. The evidence is: “We note at this stage the words of the Exalted… (Qur’an 2:34),” after which he says: “We note in verse 30… an indication of the completion of formation, and in verse 34 the command to the angels to prostrate; from this it becomes clear that verses (31, 32, 33) expressed the beginning of the breathing of the spirit
Evidence and Location
the Book and the Qur’an — p. 259.
Limits of the Reading
- This presents Shahrur’s method of ordering the verses and comparing them with the stages of creation; it does not establish the meaning of the verse as a necessary conclusion from its wording alone.
- The cited passage mentions “fu’adi cognition” when placing the verse within this stage, but it derives the “beginning of humanization” from verses 31–33; thus, his claim should not be reduced to the assertion that Qur’an 2:34 alone announces this beginning.
- The cited passage does not provide an independent argument here for the significance of prostration or of the angels outside this comparative sequential framework.
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Brief Reading
He places it within the sequence of the stages of human creation, making it a marker of Adam’s transition to the stage of fu’adi cognition and the beginning of humanization.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Beginning of humanization: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the evolutionary reading of human history in Qur’anic narratives.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Context: 1
Instances of Use
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 259: He places it within the sequence of the stages of human creation in order to make it a marker of Adam’s transition to the stage of fu’adi cognition and the beginning of humanization.
- Concept: Beginning of humanization
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual evidence: “We see the stage of fu’adi cognition … We note at this stage the words of the Exalted: {And when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam’ …}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.