This locus brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
{So ask them: “Are daughters for your Lord and sons for them? Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?”}
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ al-Saffat 149–150 in his discussion of the feminization of angels?
Shahrur employs the two verses within his conception of the “age of motherhood”; he connects the attribution of femininity to angels with a hypothetical historical stage in which human consciousness was centered on the mother and the female. He says that people did not find the appearance of angels in female form strange because their awareness of the female as mother had already taken shape. The evidence does not provide an independent linguistic interpretation of the phrase “and sons for them,” nor does it establish from this phrase alone that the term “sons” here is used to define males.
Shahrur cites al-Saffat 149–150 in the context of his discussion of the “age of motherhood,” linking the conception of angels as female to an early stage of human consciousness in which the mother was the symbol of the family. According to this conception, Shahrur explains people’s lack of surprise at the appearance of angels in female form by the fact that their awareness of the female as mother had emerged, whereas awareness of the father had not yet taken shape.
Evidence and location
State and Society — p. 79.
Limits of the reading
- The excerpt from “State and Society” ends while citing the verses, but it explicitly states the reason for citing them: the appearance of angels in female form within his conception of the age of motherhood.
- The other evidence from “the Book and the Qur’an” mentions al-Saffat 103, not verses 149–150; it therefore does not support this page and should not be linked to it.
- The attached material does not address a detailed interpretation of the two verses, nor does it document an independent claim concerning the meaning of “sons.”
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Brief reading
For him, the verse serves to distinguish the meaning of “sons” as specific to males, and to clarify that certain conceptions of the feminization of angels were connected to an ancient historical consciousness.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Narrative and historical
Related concepts
- Conception of angels: 2
- Sons: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to a network that distinguishes between lexical indication and the conceptual background of reception.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 1
- Distinction: 1
Instances of use
- State and Society, p. 79: He cites it alongside others to show that conceptions of the feminization of angels were connected to the stage of ancient maternal consciousness.
- Concept: Conception of angels
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “- {So ask them: ‘Are daughters for your Lord and sons for them? Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?’} (al-Saffat 149–150, 150)”
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 504: He considers it an example of the specific meaning of “sons,” namely male children.
- Concept: Sons
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “Where we find the term ‘sons’ meaning male children in His saying, Exalted is He: {So ask them: ‘Are daughters for your Lord and sons for them?’} (al-Saffat 149)”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.