This thematic axis brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
And the poets are followed by those who go astray * Have you not seen that they wander aimlessly in every valley * And that they say what they do not do
Reader’s answer
Question
Where does Shahrur place The Poets 224–226, what distinction does he derive from them, and what function do they serve in his argument?
Shahrur cites the verses in the section “The Position on Poetry and Literature” in his book The Book and the Qur’an (p. 526), treating them as evidence for a critique of non-committed poetry, rather than as a prohibition of poetry, literature, and the verbal arts. The verses serve his argument by showing that the text’s objection, according to his reading, is directed at the phenomenon of lack of commitment and at what he associates with it: earning a livelihood through poetry.
Shahrur places The Poets 224–226 within his presentation of the text’s position on poetry and literature. He distinguishes between poetry, literature, and the verbal arts on the one hand, and non-committed poetry on the other; he attributes the criticism in the verses to the latter phenomenon, not to the arts as such. Shahrur employs the verses to support his interpretation of lack of commitment as speech that does not correspond to action, and he links non-committed poetry to the phenomenon of earning a livelihood through poetry.
Citation and location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 526.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes this understanding as Shahrur’s reading of the verses; it does not establish that it is the only or agreed-upon interpretation of them.
- The citation does not explain in detail the criterion of “commitment” or its practical limits beyond linking it to saying what one does not do and to earning a livelihood through poetry.
- The citation does not establish a general judgment about every poet or every literary practice.
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Brief reading
He maintains that the text criticizes lack of commitment and practical falsehood in poetry, not poetry and art as such.
Axes
- Human and ethical
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- Commitment: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to commitment as an ethical standard within artistic expression.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Critique of heritage: 1
Usage loci
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 526: He maintains that the text criticizes lack of commitment and practical falsehood in poetry, not poetry and art as such.
- Concept: commitment
- Function of the verse here: critique of heritage
- Textual citation: “He said: {And the poets are followed by those who go astray * Have you not seen that they wander aimlessly in every valley * And that they say what they do not do}”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.