This verse recurs in Shahrur’s work because it makes the difference of tongues and colors one of God’s signs, not a social contingency that needs to be erased. From here it enters into his conception of human plurality and universality.
The verse as stated
And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and colors
Brief reading
Shahrur reads the verse as evidence that difference is part of God’s laws in the world. The plurality of language and color is not a reason for superiority, but a sign of the organization of human beings in different forms within creation.
Axes
- Political and social
- Human and ethical
- Methodological
Associated concepts
- Difference: 2
- Universality: 2
- Difference of tongues: 2
- Natural laws: 2
- Plurality: 2
- Difference of races: 2
- Signs of God: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
The verse is linked to plurality, universality, and the laws of social life. It is close to the verses that make human difference a field for mutual acquaintance, not exclusion.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 5
- Foundation: 1
- Example: 1
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- The difference of tongues and colors is a law in creation.
- It is linked to plurality and universality.
- It appears in the reading of human society and the laws governing it.
Places of use
- Islam and the Human: He cites it to affirm that linguistic, cultural, and racial difference is part of the established cosmic signs meant for mutual acquaintance.
- Concept: difference
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual witness: «{ وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ … وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ … } (al-Rum 22)»
- Islam and Faith, p. 52: He uses it to affirm that the diversity of tongues and cultures is a sign for all worlds and that Islam transcends narrow affiliations.
- Concept: universality
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual witness: «{… Indeed in that are signs for all worlds}»
- The State and Society, p. 64: He cites it to argue that the difference of languages and colors is governed by merciful natural laws akin to the laws of cosmic creation.
- Concept: difference of tongues
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual witness: «The Qur’an placed the difference of colors and tongues and the creation of the heavens and the earth in a single verse when it said, the Exalted: {And among…}»
- The State and Society, p. 64: He uses it to establish a natural explanation for the diversity of tongues, and then builds the emergence of nationalisms upon it.
- Concept: natural laws
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual witness: «That is, the difference of tongues and colors among people is subject to merciful natural laws like the creation of the heavens and the earth»
- The State and Society, p. 237: He makes it evidence that the difference of languages, colors, and races is a divine law that may not be abolished.
- Concept: plurality
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual witness: «For it is among the laws and Sunna of God in His creation, as in His saying: {And among His signs …} (al-Rum 22)»
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 23: He builds on it to regard the difference of tongues and colors as among God’s laws, which may not be annulled or confiscated.
- Concept: difference of races
- Function of the verse here: foundation
- Textual witness: «As in His saying: {And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and colors} (al-Rum 22)»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 58: He uses it as an example of God’s signs in nature, which fall within the manifest Book and are subject to expression and human knowledge.
- Concept: Signs of God
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual witness: «{And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and colors} (al-Rum 22)»
Related books
- Islam and the Human
- Islam and Faith
- The State and Society
- The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- The Book and the Qur’an
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.