This node 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 Cited
And We raised some of them above others in degrees so that some of them may take others into service; and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 43:32 in his conception of society and classes?
Shahrur employs the verse to establish that the existence of a human society consisting of a single equal “class” is impossible, and that differences among people in abilities and specializations entail the existence of social ranks and classes. He links the phrase “so that some of them may take others into service” to the exchange of benefits and professional roles necessary for life, rather than to the perpetuation of slavery; he presents professional contracts as the alternative that preserves specializations without slavery.
Shahrur adduces the verse as evidence for the impossibility of creating a human society composed of a single class. He understands the inequality mentioned in the verse as inequality in abilities, capacities, educational level, and specializations, and regards the existence of classes as a necessary consequence of this in society. Shahrur links the verse to the idea that necessary occupations do not disappear, and presents professional contracts and marriage contracts as alternatives to slavery while maintaining specializations.
Citation and Location
State and Society — p. 205.
Limits of the Reading
- This verse, in this citation alone, does not yield a direct ruling on the legitimacy of inequality in wealth, power, or political privileges in every form.
- The move from differences in abilities and specializations to the necessity of “classes” is Shahrur’s explicit inference, rather than an exegetical detail demonstrated by the excerpt from the wording of the verse itself.
- The other citation from “the Book and the Qur’an” mentions the verse in a different context concerning the phrase “Do they divide your Lord’s mercy?” and does not support the claim of classes and social service; it is therefore not linked to this reading.
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Brief Reading
The verse is read as grounding the idea of social inequality as a pattern of human social life based on reciprocal service and the division of livelihoods.
Axes
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Class plurality: 2
- Reciprocal service: 2
- Division of livelihood: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the concepts of society and reciprocal service in explaining the orderly pattern of differences among people.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 2
- Foundation: 1
Instances of Use
- State and Society, p. 205: He adduces the verse as evidence that inequality among people is a divine pattern that prevents the existence of a single-class society, and on this basis justifies the necessity of classes and plurality in society.
- Concept: Class plurality
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: “The Wise Revelation has made clear the impossibility of creating a human society with a single class in His—Exalted be He—saying: {And We raised some of them above others in degrees …} (Al-Zukhruf 32).”
- State and Society, p. 262: He uses it to explain the existence of social differentiation as reciprocal service rather than class injustice.
- Concept: Reciprocal service
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “And He made people subject to one another in serving one another; {Do they divide your Lord’s mercy …} (Al-Zukhruf 32)”
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 352: He draws on it to view the distribution of livelihoods and professions among people as part of the patterns of social life and reciprocal service.
- Concept: Division of livelihood
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “- {Do they divide your Lord’s mercy? We have divided among them their livelihood…} (Al-Zukhruf 32).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for building the atlas.