This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
And monasticism, which they invented—we did not prescribe it for them—except in seeking God’s good pleasure; yet they did not observe it as it should be observed.
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ the phrase “And monasticism, which they invented—we did not prescribe it for them” in his reading of monasticism?
Shahrur employs the verse to argue that monasticism was, in his reading, an obligation prescribed for Christians in seeking God’s good pleasure, and was then abrogated in the Muhammadan message. He describes its essence as distancing oneself from life’s pleasures and abandoning marriage, and thus regards it as contrary to human nature.
Shahrur holds that monasticism was among what God prescribed for Christians, relying on al-Hadid 27. Shahrur says that this monasticism was abrogated in the Muhammadan message. He interprets monasticism as distancing oneself from life’s pleasures and abandoning marriage, and describes it as contrary to human nature.
Citation and location
Islam and Faith — p. 44.
Limits of the reading
- There is one citation directly connected to the verse, from the book “Islam and Faith,” p. 44.
- The other citation, from “Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism,” p. 19, does not mention al-Hadid 27 or monasticism and therefore cannot serve as evidence for this page.
- The citation does not offer a detailed linguistic interpretation of the exception in the verse, nor independent evidence that the intended abrogation is a specific historical legislation.
- The claim that monasticism is an “imposed choice” is imprecise in relation to the wording of the citation; Shahrur calls it an obligation prescribed for Christians.
Continue from here
Brief reading
Shahrur reads it as a negation of monasticism as an imposed choice, treating it as one of the historical phenomena that ran contrary to human nature.
Axes
- Human and ethical
- Legislative
Related concepts
- Monasticism: 3
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to his critique of invented asceticism outside the requirements of the message.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Critique of tradition: 2
Instances of use
- Islam and Faith, p. 44: He cites it to argue that monasticism was a historical obligation and was then abrogated in the Muhammadan message because it is contrary to human nature.
- Concept: monasticism
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual citation: “{… And monasticism, which they invented—we did not prescribe it for them…} (al-Hadid 27).”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 19: He draws on it to maintain that God did not impose monasticism upon Jesus’s followers; rather, they invented it themselves.
- Concept: monasticism
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual citation: “{… And monasticism, which they invented—we did not prescribe it for them …} (al-Hadid 27)”
- Corresponding traditional reading: He rejects considering monasticism a divine obligation
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.