This axis gathers 3 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The verse text as it appears
And We raised some of them above others in degrees so that some of them may take others in mutual subjugation, and the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they amass.
Brief reading
The verse is read as establishing the idea of social disparity as a norm in human society based on subjugation and the division of livelihoods.
Axes
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Class plurality: 2
- Subjugation: 2
- Division of livelihood: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is linked to the concepts of society and subjugation in explaining the orderliness of difference among people.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 2
- Establishment: 1
Places of use
- State and Society, p. 205: He cites the verse to argue that disparity among people is a divine law that precludes the formation of a one-class society; on that basis, he justifies the necessity of classes and plurality in society.
- Concept: Class plurality
- Function of the verse here: Establishment
- Textual evidence: “The Wise Revelation has made clear the impossibility of creating a human society with a single class in His — exalted is 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 mutual subjugation, not class oppression.
- Concept: Subjugation
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “And He made people subjugated, some to serve others; {أَهْمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَةَ رَبِّكَ …} (Al-Zukhruf 32)”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 352: He draws on it to see the distribution of livelihoods and professions among people as part of the laws of social order and subjugation.
- Concept: Division of livelihood
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “- {Are they the ones who divide the mercy of your Lord? We have divided their livelihood among them…} (Al-Zukhruf 32).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.