This node gathers 2 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

The verse as cited

EXCEPT FROM THEIR SPOUSES OR THOSE WHOM THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS, FOR THEN THEY ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED

Brief reading

The verse appears within Shahrur’s critique of the traditional interpretation that confined it to sexual slavery and tied it to a historically male-centered application.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Political and social
  • concubines: 2
  • right-hand possession: 2

Its place in the conceptual network

It enters the network of traditional critique surrounding right-hand possession and the history of its use.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Critique of the tradition: 2

Usage locations

  • The State and Society, p. 268: He cites the interpretation that reads it as referring to concubines in order to continue his critique of the traditional confinement of the term to sexual slavery.
    • Concept: concubines
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: «According to al-Tabari: “… OR THOSE WHOM THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS, FROM THE CONCUBINES”»
    • Corresponding traditional reading: concubines
  • Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 295: He mentions it to say that the historical application was one-sidedly male when it permitted a man to have intercourse with his slave woman and forbade the reverse.
    • Concept: right-hand possession
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: «{ EXCEPT FROM THEIR SPOUSES OR THOSE WHOM THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS } (al-Ma‘ārij 30)»

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