Al-Ma'idah 90

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This axis brings together 4 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 Cited

إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنْصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

Brief Reading

From this verse, Shahrur establishes the idea that avoidance does not mean absolute prohibition, and that the impurity here is the point of distancing, not the basis of the ruling itself.

Axes

  • legislative
  • linguistic and semantic
  • methodological
  • impurity: 4
  • prohibition of wholesome things: 2

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It is linked to his distinction between avoidance and prohibition, and to a rereading of words of prohibition.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • distinction: 1
  • support: 1
  • context: 1
  • foundation: 1

Pages in the Atlas that Refer to This Verse

These links gather the pages that rely on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.

Uses

  • Islam and the Human Being: interprets the command “avoid it” as avoidance of the impurity/mixture in these things, not an absolute prohibition of wine and gambling.
    • concept: impurity
    • function of the verse here: distinction
    • textual evidence: «{ … إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنْصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ… فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ … } (al-Ma’idah 90)»
    • corresponding traditional reading: traditional exegesis understands it as a prohibition of wine and gambling, whereas Shahrur rejects this absolute understanding.
  • A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 47: cites it to link wine to impurity as intoxication, which should be avoided.
    • concept: impurity
    • function of the verse here: support
    • textual evidence: «And intoxication is the impurity of wine prohibited in His saying: { … إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ … فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ … } (al-Ma’idah 90).»
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 60: cites the verse within a narration of the reason for revelation, then uses it as an example of how traditional reports exaggerate in linking verses to specific incidents.
    • concept: prohibition of wholesome things
    • function of the verse here: context
    • textual evidence: «Then God revealed: { O you who believe, do not prohibit the wholesome things that God has made lawful for you } (al-Ma’idah 90).»
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 111-112: builds on it to argue that avoidance appears with things that are near and present before people, and that it is not equivalent to prohibition in itself.
    • concept: impurity
    • function of the verse here: foundation
    • textual evidence: «He – تعالى – says in al-Ma’idah 90: Indeed, wine and gambling and idols and divining arrows are impurity }…»

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

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Backlinks4

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas