This verse recurs in Shahrur because it establishes the beginning of human knowledge from the outside, not from prior knowledge. For this reason, it appears in places that explain how perception begins with the senses and what is connected to them in the heart/fu’ād and awareness.
The verse as it appears
وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ مِنْ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا…
Brief reading
Shahrur cites it to show that human beings are born without knowledge, and that hearing, sight, and the fu’ād are their first tools for acquiring knowledge. He also uses it as support for the idea that knowledge begins with sensory experience and then expands later.
Axes
- Methodological
- Linguistic and semantic
Related concepts
- Motherhood: 2
- Acquired knowledge: 2
- Beginning of knowledge: 2
- Sources of knowledge: 2
- Sensory knowledge: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It is connected to the construction of his theory of knowledge, and to the distinction between what a human being is born with and what is acquired afterward. It therefore enters into the network of motherhood, the beginning of knowledge, and the sources of knowledge together.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 3
- Foundational: 2
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- A foundation in the theory of knowledge
- Affirms that knowledge is acquired
- Links the senses to the beginning of perception
Places of usage
- Islam and Faith, p. 181: He uses it to prove that the mother is the one from whom the newborn emerges after pregnancy and delivery, so motherhood and parenthood come together in it for him.
- Concept: Motherhood
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: «{وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ مِنْ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا…} (an-Nahl 78).»
- The State and Society, pp. 29-30: He makes it evidence that human beings are born without knowledge, and that all knowledge is acquired through hearing, sight, and the fu’ād.
- Concept: Acquired knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: «{وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ مِنْ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا…} (an-Nahl 78).»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 228: He cites it to argue that human beings are born devoid of information and that hearing, sight, and the fu’ād are its primary sources.
- Concept: Beginning of knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: «{وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ مِنْ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ} (an-Nahl 78).»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 260: He takes it as the basis for the idea that human knowledge begins from the outside through hearing, sight, and the fu’ād.
- Concept: Sources of knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: «And since we begin from the merciful perspective … that is, information comes from the outside, based on His saying تعالى {وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ …}»
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 325: He cites it to argue that hearing, sight, and the fu’ād are the tools by which a human being, lacking knowledge, acquires knowledge.
- Concept: Sensory knowledge
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual evidence: «He affirmed their necessity for acquiring knowledge and linked them to the fu’ād in His saying تعالى {وَاللهُ أَخْرَجَكُمْ مِنْ بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ…} (an-Nahl 78).»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.