This axis brings together 3 instances of this verse’s use in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Verse text as cited
And among His signs is that He created for you, from yourselves, spouses …
Brief reading
The verse is used to define marriage as a social relationship founded on affection and mercy, not merely on individual utility.
Axes
- Political and social
- Human and ethical
Related concepts
- affection: 3
- marriage: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It links family formation and the meaning of affection in a conception that distinguishes the marital relationship from a relationship of possession.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 1
- Distinction: 1
- Critique of tradition: 1
Instances of use
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, pp. 26-27: Cited to argue that marriage is a social relationship that founds the family and society, not merely an individual relationship.
- Concept: marriage
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: “We find in its organization of the family that it shows us… as in His saying — exalted is He —: {And among His signs is that He created for you…} (Romans 21)”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 504: Used to negate turning the relationship between man and woman into a relationship of possession, and to affirm that it is a relationship of affection and mercy.
- Concept: affection
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “Here I want to make clear that woman is not the man’s possession and the man is not the woman’s possession; rather, the relationship between man and woman is a relationship of affection and mercy”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 280: Relied upon to refute the hadith that portrays the wife as subject to absolute submission, and to affirm that the relationship between the spouses is one of affection and mercy.
- Concept: affection
- Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
- Textual evidence: “{ And among His signs is that He created for you, from yourselves, spouses… } (Romans 21)”
- Corresponding traditional reading: prostration to the husband or confining women
Related books
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- The Book and the Qur’an
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.