Hashr 7

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This verse recurs in Shahrur because it is one of the most important texts on which he builds his conception of the messenger’s place in civil legislation and the limits of obedience to him. It is also central because it links public wealth and social organization to the message, not merely to later narration or transmission.

Text of the verse as cited

مَا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى فَلِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ

Brief reading

Shahrur understands the verse as concerning what the messenger was given in terms of regulation and ijtihad within his historical field, especially in the distribution of spoils and the management of society. He therefore uses it to show that obedience to the messenger here is obedience tied to its context, not a generalization of everything attributed to him.

Axes

  • Political and social
  • Legislative
  • Methodological
  • civil legislation: 3
  • fair distribution: 2
  • legislative authority: 2
  • obedience: 2
  • spoils: 2
  • monolithic villages: 1
  • prophetic giving: 1
  • people of the villages: 1
  • command and prohibition: 1
  • the messenger’s ijtihad: 1
  • prohibition: 1

Its place in the network of concepts

The verse is connected to civil legislation, legislative authority, spoils, and obedience. It is central because it regulates the relationship between the message and practical organization, and prevents extending its meaning beyond its own domain.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 4
  • Foundation: 4
  • Context: 2
  • Distinction: 1
  • Critique of the inherited tradition: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • In his view, it is connected to civil legislation and spoils.
  • It is used to define the scope of obedience to the messenger.
  • It regulates the relationship between the message and practical organization.

Atlas pages referring 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

  • State and Society: He uses it to link spoils to the messenger’s confrontation with monolithic village societies, and from it opens the question of the meaning of divine permission in fighting those villages.
    • Concept: monolithic villages
    • Function of the verse here: context
    • Textual evidence: «{مَا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى…} (الحشر 7)»
  • State and Society, p. 220: He cites the verse to argue that the Muhammadan message forbids the monopolization of wealth and supports the building of a plural society in which money is not held in the hands of the rich as a state.
    • Concept: fair distribution
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «The Muhammadan message allowed the use of violence in fighting monism … according to the Almighty’s words: {مَا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ …} (الحشر 7)»
  • State and Society, p. 233: He uses it to assign the status of message to legislation, and to establish that legislative authority is independent of persons.
    • Concept: legislative authority
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «So as a messenger he represented the legislative authority … in the Almighty’s words: {وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ …} (الحشر 7)»
  • State and Society, p. 302: He relies on it to establish that what the messenger legislated in organizing civil society was binding on the people of his time within his direct relationship with them.
    • Concept: civil legislation
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «… on the basis of the Almighty’s words: {وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا} (الحشر 7)»
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 112: He interprets it as specific to what the messenger gave through his ijtihads and the distribution of spoils to those with him, not as an eternal general obedience for all Muslims.
    • Concept: prophetic giving
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual evidence: «The verse of al-Hashr 7 speaks about what came from the messenger to the believers… hence He said: {وَمَا أَتَاكُمْ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ…}»
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 15: He cites it in the context of speaking about the people of the villages and linking them to the structure of the monolithic society and its rulings.
    • Concept: people of the villages
    • Function of the verse here: context
    • Textual evidence: «As the Almighty says: {مَا أَفَاءَ اللهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقُرَى…} (الحشر 7)»
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 25: He makes it the basis for understanding the messenger’s legislation as civil organization subject to its time, not as absolute legislative revelation.
    • Concept: civil legislation
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «In His words: {وَمَا آتَاكُمْ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ…} (الحشر 7)»
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 249: He builds on it to distinguish situational command/prohibition from permanent divine prohibition, and makes it the basis for obedience to the messenger within his legislative sphere.
    • Concept: command and prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «{وَمَا آتَاكُمْ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا} (الحشر ٧)»
  • Guide to a Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 12: He makes it evidence that the messenger’s function is conveyance and practical organization, and that obedience to him is tied to what he legislated for his society as contextual rulings.
    • Concept: obedience
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «{ … وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا… } (الحشر ٧)»
  • Guide to a Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, pp. 43-44: He makes the verse evidence that what people take from the messenger is his legislative ijtihad, not revelation itself.
    • Concept: the messenger’s ijtihad
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: «For the Almighty’s words: { … وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ… } (الحشر ٧) mean what the messenger gave you as a gift from himself»
  • Guide to a Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 50: He cites it to prove that the messenger’s prohibition is tied to his temporal legislation within his society.
    • Concept: prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: «Or what the Prophet (PBUH) commands, according to the Almighty’s words: { … وَمَا آتَاكُمْ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا … } (الحشر ٧)»
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 135-137: He confirms that it is specific to the context of spoils and their distribution, and rejects generalizing it to everything attributed to the messenger in hadith and actions.
    • Concept: spoils
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the inherited tradition
    • Textual evidence: «{ وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا } (الحشر ٧)،»
    • Opposing traditional reading: the senior jurists and their followers use it to say that all his hadiths, sayings, and actions must be taken as binding.

This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.

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Backlinks13

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas