This axis brings together 3 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 quoted
The Romans were defeated * in the nearest land, and after their defeat they will be victorious * within a few years
Brief reading
Here the verses establish an understanding that links the Qur’anic report to what occurs in time, and makes the before and after signs of the movement of events, not of a fixed meaning outside them.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- News of the unseen: 2
- Time: 2
- Time: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It is linked to the network of concepts through the unseen and time as an entry point for reading the Qur’anic event.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Foundation: 2
- Example: 1
Instances of use
- Islam and Man, p. 40: He presents it as an example of future reports in the Qur’an that events later realize.
- Concept: News of the unseen
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: «{ The Romans were defeated … they will be victorious * within a few years } (Ar-Rum 2-4)»
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1, p. 128: He begins with it to explain that the terms before and after in the Qur’an are understood as temporal dimensions related to us, not to God.
- Concept: Time
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual evidence: «Afterward, and on that day the believers will rejoice (Ar-Rum: 2-4)»
- The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 2, p. 128: He draws on the verses of Ar-Rum to distinguish the meaning of (before) and (after) as temporal indicators that define the past and the future in Qur’anic discourse.
- Concept: Time
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual evidence: «Afterward, and on that day the believers will rejoice (Ar-Rum: 2-4)… and we pause at these three verses from Surat Ar-Rum, specifically at the (before) that refers to the past, and at the (after) that refers to the future.”
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology of atlas construction.