This axis brings together 1 locus where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
And that He created the pair, the male and the female
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s saying, “And that He created the pair, the male and the female,” in understanding the meaning of “the pair”?
Shahrur employs the verse as part of his distinction between two uses of the term “zawj” (pair/spouse): a social use in which a woman is a “zawj” in a marital relationship with a man, and a broader use denoting the pairing of two things and their connection. He takes the coupling of “the pair” with “the male and the female” in the verse as evidence that what is meant here is the pairing of male and female, rather than merely a description of a marriage contract.
Shahrur cites verse 45 of Surat al-Najm in his discussion of the occurrence of the term “zawj” in the Qur’an, reading the phrase “the pair, the male and the female” as identifying the pair as the male and the female. Shahrur explicitly distinguishes this use from the “social concept” of spouse; he describes a woman as a spouse when she is in a relationship with a man, then states that the original sense of the word in Arabic is the comparison of one thing with another and its connection to it through some relation.
Evidence and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 198.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence presents Shahrur’s semantic reading and does not, by itself, demonstrate that this is the only possible meaning of the verse.
- The expression “in natural existence” goes beyond the text of the evidence; the quotation establishes the correspondence of the pair to the male and female and distinguishes it from the social concept, but it does not explain an independent theory called “natural existence.”
- The quotation breaks off while Shahrur is citing the two verses from Surat al-An‘am; therefore, additional details from his subsequent argument should not be attributed to him.
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Brief Reading
He relies on it to define the pair as the male and the female in natural existence, not in a marriage contract.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Pairing: 2
- Male: 1
- Female: 1
- Natural existence: 1
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It establishes a semantic distinction between natural pairing and contractual pairing.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Foundational: 1
Loci of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 198: He relies on it to define the pair as the male and the female in natural existence, not in a marriage contract.
- Concept: Pairing
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “The term ‘zawj’ occurs in numerous verses, including God’s saying: {AND THAT HE CREATED THE PAIR, THE MALE AND THE FEMALE} (The Star 45).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.