This locus 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
He released the two seas, meeting together * between them is a barrier which they do not transgress
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the two verses, “He released the two seas, meeting together … between them is a barrier which they do not transgress”?
Shahrur employs the two verses as an example of what he regards as Qur’anic verses whose meaning the Arabs at the time of revelation could not comprehend; therefore, in his account, the believer met them with faith and submission, while he connects the disbeliever’s stance toward them with describing the Qur’an as “manifest magic.”
Shahrur cites al-Rahman 19–20 in the context of a question about how the Arabs understood them, then maintains that the Arabs “did not comprehend them.” Shahrur says that the Arab believer believed in these verses “in submission.” He links the disbeliever’s attitude toward the verse to the claim that it is “magic,” drawing in this context on al-Ahqaf 7, which reports the disbelievers’ description of the truth, when it came to them, as “manifest magic.”
Evidence and location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 115.
Limits of the reading
- This evidence establishes Shahrur’s manner of employing the verse; it does not by itself establish the validity of his general historical judgment concerning the understanding of all Arabs.
- The quotation provides no linguistic or scientific interpretation of the expressions “the two seas” and “a barrier”; therefore, no specific interpretation of them should be attributed to Shahrur on the basis of this passage alone.
- Linking the description “magic” to this verse is part of Shahrur’s argument in the passage; the verse from al-Ahqaf that he invokes, however, concerns the disbelievers’ description of the Qur’an/truth when the verses are recited, not al-Rahman 19–20 by name.
- The supplied text breaks off after the beginning of the third point; therefore, his argument should not be completed, nor later conclusions attributed to it, without additional evidence.
Continue from here
Brief reading
Shahrur presents them as an example of unseen verses that initially exceeded the Arabs’ understanding, so that they were approached with faith and submission.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Unseen truth: 2
- The unseen: 2
Its place in the concept network
It clarifies the relation of the unseen to the limits of human understanding at the moment of revelation.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Example: 2
Instances of use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 115: He mentions it as an example of verses that the Arabs at the time did not comprehend, so the believer believed in them and submitted to them, while the disbeliever either accepted or denied them.
- Concept: Unseen truth
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “… and how did the Arabs, both believers and disbelievers among them, understand His saying, Exalted is He: {He released the two seas, meeting together * between them is a barrier which they do not transgress}”
- The Book and the Qur’an: He presents it as an example of a verse that the Arabs did not initially comprehend, in order to affirm that their reception of the Qur’an was a reception of believing submission rather than interpretive understanding.
- Concept: The unseen
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “His saying, Exalted is He: {He released the two seas, meeting together * between them is a barrier which they do not transgress} (al-Rahman 19–20)? I say: They did not comprehend it.”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.