For Shahrur, this verse marks the transition from error to return, and the emergence of words as a new beginning in the human course. For this reason, he connects it with repentance, and with a leap in consciousness that precedes the completion of the human experience.
Text of the verse as given
فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
Brief reading
Shahrur understands it as the moment when Adam received words from his Lord, followed by the acceptance of repentance. From here, the verse is connected in his view to the beginning of the human path toward guidance, and to the idea that knowledge is not based on error alone, but also on transcending it.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Faith-based
Related concepts
- Repentance: 4
- Abstraction: 3
Its place in the network of concepts
It enters the network of repentance and abstraction together, because it does not describe mere forgiveness, but rather a transformation in the way meaning is received. For this reason, it appears alongside his discussion of the search for truth, and the beginning of the human being’s cognitive formation.
The role of the verse in the argument
- Example: 2
- Foundational: 2
- Context: 1
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- A sign of repentance and return
- Associated with a leap in abstraction
- Enters into the narrative of the search for truth
Places of use
- Islam and the Human Being: He uses it as an early example of the human being’s journey in the search for truth, his acknowledgment of error, and then his return to God.
- Concept: repentance
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual evidence: «At Adam’s acknowledgment of his sin after disobeying his Lord’s command, his repentance to Him, عزّ وجلّ: { فَتَلَقَّى أَدْمُ … } (البقرة ٣٧)»
- Islam and the Human Being: He connects it to the beginning of the human path toward guidance after error and repentance.
- Concept: repentance
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual evidence: «{ فَتَلَقَّى أَدْمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ … } (البقرة ٣٧)»
- Islam and Faith, p. 10: He places it within the narrative of the human search for truth as a journey that begins with Adam and then takes shape with Abraham.
- Concept: repentance
- Function of the verse here: context
- Textual evidence: «{ فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ… } (البقرة ٣٧)»
- The Qur’anic Stories, vol. 2, p. 10: He makes the verse a sign of a cognitive leap in the development of the human being before the second descent.
- Concept: abstraction
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual evidence: «The leap of abstraction indicated by His saying تعالى {فَتَلَقَّى أَدْمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ…} (البقرة ٣٧)»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 260: He cites it as evidence that the first abstract leap came directly from God in the form of words/segmental sounds with conventional semantic meaning.
- Concept: abstraction
- Function of the verse here: foundational
- Textual evidence: «Here came the stage of the third Adam … {فَتَلَقَّى أَدْمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ}»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.