Hajj 17

5 min read

This verse recurs in Shahrur’s work in discussions concerning religious plurality and the restriction of final judgment to God. For this reason, he regards it as a central verse for understanding relations among religious communities and for rejecting the transformation of difference into worldly exclusion.

The Verse as Cited

Indeed, God is Witness over all things.

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Shahrur read Hajj 17 with regard to the plurality of religious communities and who has the authority to judge them?

Shahrur reads the verse as an acknowledgment of the existence of multiple religious communities and religions, while reserving final judgment among them for God on the Day of Resurrection. He therefore concludes that human beings are not charged with assigning the followers of religious communities to Paradise or Hell, or with issuing a definitive judgment concerning their afterlife.

In Shahrur’s reading, the verse brings together several religious groups and then attributes judgment between them to God on the Day of Resurrection. Shahrur employs this divine attribution of judgment to argue that people’s task is not to judge others’ afterlife destinies or distribute them between Paradise and Hell.

Source and Location

Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism — p. 45.

Limits of the Reading

  • In the cited passage, the verse does not set out details of civil or political relations among the groups mentioned.
  • The phrase “acceptance of plurality” summarizes the direction of Shahrur’s reading, but the more precise evidence establishes an acknowledgment of the plurality of religious communities and reserves their final reckoning for God; it does not establish a detailed program of tolerance.
  • Shahrur’s interpretation of terms such as “Islam” and “disbelief” in the context of the verse forms part of his interpretive construction; it is not an independent linguistic conclusion established by this passage alone.

Continue From Here

Brief Reading

The verse is used to establish that different religious groups are mentioned together in Qur’anic discourse and that the decisive judgment between them is deferred to God. In this sense, the verse becomes for Shahrur a foundational text for accepting plurality and postponing judgment.

Axes

  • Faith-based
  • Political and social
  • Divine differentiation: 2
  • God’s witness: 2
  • Religious communities: 2
  • Religious plurality: 2
  • Pluralism: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It lies at the heart of the network of pluralism and God’s witness over creation, adjoining his discussion of religious communities not as a matter of human conflict, but as a domain whose final judgment remains with God alone.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Foundation: 3
  • Differentiation: 1
  • Support: 1

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

  • Establishes religious plurality
  • Defers judgment to God
  • Is connected to God’s witness over all things

Contexts of Use

  • Islam and the Human Being: He relies on it to establish that judgment between religious communities and creeds is a divine matter on the Day of Resurrection, not a human one.
    • Concept: Divine differentiation
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual evidence: “{ Indeed, those who believe, those who are Jews, the Sabians, the Christians, the Magians, and those who associate others with God … } (Hajj 17).”
  • Islam and the Human Being: He cites it as evidence for the universality of God’s witness over everything in existence.
    • Concept: God’s witness
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual evidence: “- { … Indeed, God is Witness over all things } (Hajj 17),”
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 11: He uses it to acknowledge religious plurality and that judgment between these groups is deferred until the Day of Resurrection; thus, the other may not be excluded in this world.
    • Concept: Religious communities
    • Function of the verse here: Differentiation
    • Textual evidence: “Thus, He said concerning religious communities: {Indeed, those who believe, those who are Jews…} (Hajj 17)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 45: He cites it as evidence that final judgment between religious communities belongs to God alone, and that believers and disbelievers may exist within every religious community.
    • Concept: Religious plurality
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: “In this verse there is a divine acknowledgment of diversity among religious communities and that their reckoning belongs to God alone.”
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 128: He presents it as a declaration of God’s acceptance of all religious communities and of His sole authority to judge between them on the Day of Resurrection.
    • Concept: Pluralism
    • Function of the verse here: Foundation
    • Textual evidence: “{ Indeed, those who believe, those who are Jews, the Sabians, the Christians, the Magians, and those who associate others with God … } (Hajj 17)”

This page is presented within the atlas’s general methodology for constructing the atlas.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas