Al-Nahl 90

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This locus gathers 3 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

Text of the Verse as Cited

Indeed, God commands justice, beneficence, and giving to relatives, and forbids indecency, wrongdoing, and transgression. He admonishes you so that you may remember

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read God’s statement: “Indeed, God commands justice and beneficence … and forbids indecency, wrongdoing, and transgression. He admonishes you so that you may remember”? Does he regard it as one of the necessary laws of the universe, or as guidance for conduct and legislation?

Shahrur uses the verse to distinguish between two types of divine “command”: a definitive cosmic command that operates, in his account, through the laws of existence and the phrase “Be, and it is”; and a command concerning human conduct, which takes the form of command, prohibition, and admonition. He takes the verse’s conclusion, “He admonishes you,” as an indication that it belongs to the second type. Accordingly, he links the legislative implementation of its commands and prohibitions to a context-bound human ijtihad that changes with time, place, and the conditions of society, rather than to its being an effective cosmic decree in the manner of natural necessity.

Shahrur explicitly states that the divine command concerning human conduct differs from the definitive cosmic command: the former comes, in his account, in the form of a command paired with a prohibition, admonition, or injunction, and is not connected to the phrase “Be, and it is,” which takes effect in existence. Shahrur employs the conclusion of Qur’an 16:90, “He admonishes you,” as evidence within the verse that the commands to justice, beneficence, and giving to relatives, and the prohibitions of indecency, wrongdoing, and transgression, are admonitory directives for conduct, rather than the necessary cosmic phenomena he describes in the same passage.

Evidence and Location

The State and Society — p. 24.

Limits of the Reading

  • This page documents Shahrur’s manner of employing the verse in the two attached passages; it does not determine the validity of the distinction he draws between cosmic command and behavioral command.
  • The phrase “changing conventions” goes beyond the evidence; more precisely, one should speak of changing circumstances, conditions, and the level of knowledge of societies in the context of legislative ijtihad.
  • The third passage cites the verse in a table of verses concerning commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong, but does not explain its detailed relation to the subject of this page; therefore, no additional claim is based on it.

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Brief Reading

The verse is used to distinguish moral admonition from the laws of the universe, and to link conduct to changing conventions and legislative ijtihad.

Axes

  • Human and ethical
  • Political and social
  • Legislative
  • Admonition: 2
  • Social conventions: 2
  • Command and prohibition: 2

Its Place in the Network of Concepts

It opens a connection between public ethics, social organization, and the limits of legislation.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Distinction: 1
  • Support: 1
  • Foundation: 1

Instances of Use

  • The State and Society, p. 24: He cites it to argue that the commands governing ethical conduct are admonitions and legislation, not definitive decrees like the laws of the universe.
    • Concept: admonition
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual evidence: “{INDEED, GOD COMMANDS JUSTICE … HE ADMONISHES YOU SO THAT YOU MAY REMEMBER} (Al-Nahl 90),”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 164: He includes it among verses commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong in order to affirm that the criterion is social and evolves with changes in time and place.
    • Concept: social conventions
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: “Al-Nahl (90) | {INDEED, GOD COMMANDS JUSTICE AND BENEFICENCE… AND FORBIDS INDECENCY, WRONGDOING, AND TRANSGRESSION}”
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 50: He makes the verse a basis for distinguishing what God prohibits from what the legislative authority undertakes through civil ijtihad.
    • Concept: command and prohibition
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: “God left the task of ijtihad concerning them to the legislative authority, according to His statement: { INDEED, GOD COMMANDS JUSTICE … AND FORBIDS INDECENCY … } (Al-Nahl 90).”

This page is presented within the atlas’s general atlas-building methodology.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas