Shahrur invokes this verse in the context of divorce, describing it as a direct procedure connected to the marital situation and manifest indecency. It therefore recurs in passages where he distinguishes divorce rulings from corporal punishment or general legislation.
The Verse as Cited
Do not expel them from their homes, nor should they leave, unless they commit a manifest indecency
Reader’s Answer
Question
Where does the verse occur, and how does Shahrur distinguish its function in his argument?
The verse occurs in Surat al-Talaq (1). The evidence presents it within the context of divorce as executive instructions connected to the man’s wish to divorce, rather than as a legal procedure contingent on a court decision.
Shahrur reads the instruction not to expel the woman from her home, and not to leave it, in the context of the man’s wish to divorce, as executive instructions applied automatically. Shahrur holds that these instructions do not require a law, a court decision, or anything of the sort.
Evidence and Location
Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 140.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence does not establish that Shahrur makes the verse a punishment of immediate divorce or expulsion upon the establishment of indecency.
- The evidence does not establish a distinction between divorce and corporal hadd punishment.
- The occurrence of the waiting period and indecency in the cited Qur’anic text is not sufficient, at this point, to establish an independent explanation attributed to Shahrur of their function or of the conditions of the exception.
- The statement of the current usage refers to a book and page different from the attached evidence and therefore cannot serve as evidence here.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur reads it as executive instructions concerning divorce procedures, the woman’s remaining in her home, and the limits of expulsion when indecency is established. He also uses it to distinguish divorce from punishment and to connect it with the waiting period when divorce is initiated by the man.
Axes
- Legislative
- Human and Ethical
- Political and Social
Related Concepts
- Divorce: 3
- Manifest indecency: 2
- Women: 2
- Waiting period: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the network of family legislation and to the separation of civil procedures from corporal hadd punishment. It also figures in the discussion of women, the waiting period, and manifest indecency within a single framework.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Distinction: 2
- Support: 1
- Context: 1
- Foundation: 1
Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas
- Direct instructions concerning divorce
- A distinction from corporal punishment
- Connected to the waiting period and manifest indecency
Contexts of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 55: he interprets it as the punishment of immediate divorce and expulsion from the home upon the establishment of indecency for a married woman, rather than as a corporal hadd punishment.
- Concept: Manifest indecency
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: “{… Do not expel them from their homes … unless they commit a manifest indecency …} (al-Talaq 1).”
- the Book and the Qur’an, p. 503: he cites it among the passages he considers indicative of the meaning of wives/females according to context.
- Concept: Women
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “And His saying: {.. When you divorce women ..} (al-Talaq 1)”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 140: he makes the divorce verse an example of direct executive instructions that require no additional legislation or court.
- Concept: Divorce
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual evidence: “The instruction that a woman not leave her home … is an instruction that requires no law; rather, it is executive instructions applied automatically.”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 234: he adduces the verse to argue that evidentiary proofs suffice to effect divorce and the forfeiture of rights, whereas corporal punishment occurs only with witnesses and publicity.
- Concept: Divorce
- Function of the verse here: Distinction
- Textual evidence: “Evidentiary proofs are for divorce with the loss of rights, whereas punishment is exclusively in the case of witnesses alone (publicity).”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 254–255: he adduces it to argue that a man’s divorce has procedures and a waiting period, and that the wife remains in her home and is not expelled except where there is evidence of indecency.
- Concept: Waiting period
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual evidence: “If the man is the one who wishes to divorce, while the woman does not want this, we return to His saying—Exalted is He—: {O Prophet, when you divorce women …}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general methodology for constructing the atlas.