At-Tawbah 29

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This verse appears in Shahrur’s work within a specific historical reading, not as a general combat ruling. For this reason, it is repeatedly invoked in places where he confronts juristic generalization, and he reconnects the text to its political and military circumstance.

The verse as it appears

FIGHT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD … UNTIL THEY PAY THE JIZYA WITH THEIR HAND AND ARE HUMILIATED

Brief reading

Shahrur reads it as a discourse addressed to specific polytheists in a defined context, not as legislation extending to all times. From this angle, the verse becomes for him a tool for criticizing the interpretation that turned it into a general rule for fighting or killing.

Axes

  • Political and social
  • Narrative and historical
  • Fighting: 3
  • Dialectic: 2
  • Specific fighting: 2
  • Prohibition: 2

Its position in the conceptual network

It is linked to the network of criticism of the heritage in the chapter on fighting, and to distinguishing the text within its context from projecting it onto every era. It also enters into his discussion of prohibition, where he separates what pertains to the message from what pertains to the person.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Critique of the heritage: 5

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • Specific context, not generalization
  • Critique of a general reading of fighting
  • Linked to the limits of prohibition and the message

Pages in the atlas 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.

Places of use

  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 280: He employs it in contrast to verses of peace, classifying it within the context of confrontational dialectic rather than general legislation.
    • Concept: Dialectic
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
    • Textual citation: “Or in the cases where confrontational dialectic occurs, such as His saying تعالى: {FIGHT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD … UNTIL THEY PAY THE JIZYA WITH THEIR HAND AND ARE HUMILIATED} (At-Tawbah 29).”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 39: He states that the verse is specific to a particular incident and battle, and in his view it cannot serve as a general ruling for all polytheists.
    • Concept: Specific fighting
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
    • Textual citation: “(At-Tawbah 29), for the call here is to fight specific polytheists in a specific battle”
    • Counter-traditional reading: Generalizing fighting against polytheists in all eras
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 39: He confines the verse to its historical and political circumstance and prevents its generalization to all polytheists at all times.
    • Concept: Fighting
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
    • Textual citation: “(At-Tawbah 29), for the call here is to fight specific polytheists in a specific battle”
    • Counter-traditional reading: Treating it as a general ruling across the ages and applying it to polytheists in every historical period.
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 50: He cites it as an example of verses that were jurisprudentially loaded with the meanings of killing and abrogation, whereas he sees it as part of the historical Muhammadan narratives.
    • Concept: Fighting
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
    • Textual citation: ”… and between His saying تعالى: {FIGHT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD …} (At-Tawbah 29), after they had considered fighting to be killing.”
    • Counter-traditional reading: Treating it as evidence for perpetual fighting or killing.
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 137: He cites it to distinguish between the Messenger’s prohibition in his legislative capacity and God’s prohibition, and he places the prohibition mentioned in it within the prohibitions of the message, not of the person.
    • Concept: Prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of the heritage
    • Textual citation: “And someone will say: What about His saying تعالى: { FIGHT THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD… } (At-Tawbah 29) if you say that the Messenger does not prohibit?”
    • Counter-traditional reading: The Messenger prohibits in his personal capacity

This page is presented within the general methodology of atlas construction.

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Backlinks6

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas