This axis brings together one site of use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

The verse text as cited

{And if you punish, then punish with the like of that with which you were punished; but if you are patient, it is surely better for those who are patient}

Brief reading

He uses it to affirm that responding to harm must remain within the bounds of equivalence, without transgression.

Axes

  • Humanitarian and ethical
  • Legislative
  • Equivalence in punishment: 2
  • Harm: 1
  • Responding in kind: 1

Its place in the conceptual network

It enters into the network of regulating punishment and ethical response.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 1

Instances of use

  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 115: used to affirm that responding to harm must remain within the bounds of equivalence, without transgression.
    • Concept: Equivalence in punishment
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: «An-Nahl (126) | { وَإِنْ عَاقَبْتُمْ فَعَاقِبُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُمْ بِهِ … }»

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