This axis brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
Say: “Nothing will befall us except what God has decreed for us.”
Reader’s answer
Question
Where does the verse occur in the cited passage, how does Shahrur use it to distinguish the meaning of musibah, and what function does it serve in his argument?
The verse occurs on p. 19 of Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism. Shahrur treats the musibah as a “book” with multiple causes, elements, and possibilities, and cites the verse to deny that it occurs outside the objective laws God established for the earth.
Shahrur portrays the musibah as a “book” composed of multiple causes, elements, and possibilities, rather than as a single event identical for people in every age. The function of Al-Tawbah 51 in his argument is to establish that the musibah does not occur outside the objective laws God established for the earth.
Source and location
Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 19.
Limits of the reading
- The cited passage does not establish that Shahrur calls these laws “sunan,” although he explicitly describes them as objective laws.
- The cited passage begins a transition toward a possible explanation of the meaning of “kataba” and then breaks off; it therefore does not establish a complete semantic account of the term “kataba.”
- The passage does not state that every Qur’anic use of musibah or writing carries this interpretive framework.
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Brief reading
It supports the idea that the musibah unfolds within objective laws and causes decreed by God, rather than arbitrarily.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Divine decree and predestination: 2
- Causes: 1
- Musibah: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It connects belief in divine decree and predestination with an understanding of the law governing events.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 1
Contexts of use
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 19: He employs it to explain that the musibah unfolds within objective laws and multiple causes decreed by God, rather than arbitrarily.
- Concept: Divine decree and predestination
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “{Say: ‘Nothing will befall us except what God has decreed for us.’} (Al-Tawbah 51)”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.