Al-‘Ankabut 56

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This axis gathers 2 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, connecting it to the concepts and arguments that surround it.

Verse text as quoted

O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me.

Brief reading

He uses it to criticize making the address to believers a sufficient sign of the Medinan, since the wording alone is not enough to determine the temporal classification.

Axes

  • Methodological
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Meccan and Medinan: 2
  • Critique of the Meccan/Medinan division: 2

Its place in the conceptual network

It serves a method that rejects reduction to a classification of revelation.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Distinction: 2

Instances of use

  • The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 1, p. 83: He cites it to argue that the address “those who believe” does not necessarily mean Medinan verses, since the Qur’an contains Meccan verses with this address.
    • Concept: Meccan and Medinan
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “As in His saying, exalted is He, {O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me} (al-‘Ankabut: 56)”
    • The corresponding traditional reading: al-Wahidi’s statement: “And ‘O you who have believed’ is therefore Medinan.”
  • The Qur’anic Narrative vol. 2, p. 83: He mentions the verse as an example that addressing believers does not necessarily mean Medinan revelation, since wording alone is not enough to determine the temporal classification.
    • Concept: Critique of the Meccan/Medinan division
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “In the Wise Revelation there are verses that address those who have believed and yet are Meccan, such as His saying, exalted is He, {O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me} (al-‘Ankabut: 56)”},{
    • The corresponding traditional reading: the conventional link between addressing believers and Medinan provenance.

This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.

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