An-Nisa 11

9 min read

This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because, for him, it is a clear example of the precision of the text in the chapter of inheritance. It is central to him because it allows inheritance, bequest, and justice to be read in a single context, apart from the separation he sees in the traditional reading.

The verse as stated

…فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلِأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ

Brief reading

Shahrur is concerned with this verse in order to prove that inheritance comes after bequest and debt, and that the order of the text does not permit the cancellation of one in favor of the other. He also derives from it linguistic indications related to the number of daughters, the meaning of women, and the position of the parents, in order to rebuild the chapter of inheritance on a more precise basis.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Methodological
  • women: 3
  • inheritance: 2
  • inheritance: 2
  • equality: 2
  • linguistic precision: 2
  • the unsaid: 1
  • justice: 1
  • number of daughters: 1
  • relative equality: 1
  • roots: 1
  • daughters: 1
  • children: 1
  • male and female child: 1

Its place in the conceptual network

The verse enters into the network of inheritance, bequest, justice, and linguistic precision. It is central because it enables him to criticize juristic generalizations, link rulings to the structure of the text itself, and show the effect of details in understanding rights.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Foundation: 8
  • Critique of the tradition: 4
  • Distinction: 2
  • Example: 2
  • Support: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • A major axis in the chapter of inheritance.
  • Bequest precedes inheritance in his reading.
  • Connected to linguistic precision and the justice of distribution.

Pages in the atlas that refer to this verse

These links gather the pages that rely on the verse or make it part of the argument within the atlas.

Places of use

  • The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna, pp. 51-52: Used to argue that inheritance shares are executed after bequest and debt, and that the verse itself prevents saying that bequest has been abrogated.
    • Concept: inheritance
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: “ذكرَت الوصية في كتاب الله تعالى ثماني مرات… says the Almighty in Surat al-Nisa: 1. {…فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلَأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ}…{ النساء ١١.”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: that bequest is abrogated by the verses of inheritance.
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, pp. 30-31: He uses it to prove that inheritance comes after bequest and that it is not a ruling separate from it, but a second option when there is no bequest.
    • Concept: inheritance
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: ”- {يُوصِيكُمُ اللهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ… مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ} (النساء 11)”
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 31: He invokes it to confirm that his understanding of inheritance is consistent with the principle of equality between male and female in entitlement.
    • Concept: equality
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: ”{… يُبَيِّنُ اللهُ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَضِلُّوا …} (النساء 176)”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: jurisprudence links inheritance to ownership and rejects the inheritance of property by a female in this sense
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 503: He counts it among the places where women means females specifically, not the meaning of postponement or those who come later.
    • Concept: women
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual evidence: “The term women in His saying, the Exalted, {يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ …} (النساء ١١) … is meant here to indicate females, that is, the specific meaning of the term.”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 503: He considers it a text that establishes the specific meaning of women in the chapter of inheritance, namely females.
    • Concept: women
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual evidence: “The term women in His saying, the Exalted, {يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ …} (النساء ١١) …”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 254: He cites it to show that Qur’anic eloquence includes an implied omission, and that understanding rulings requires inferring the unsaid.
    • Concept: the unsaid
    • Function of the verse here: example
    • Textual evidence: “We must read the unsaid required by rhetoric, as in the verse of inheritance where the male is omitted in His saying, the Exalted: {وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ} (النساء ١١)”
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 19: He cites these passages to show that the precision of the Qur’an in construction prevents treating it as mere synonymy or uncontrolled generalization.
    • Concept: linguistic precision
    • Function of the verse here: example
    • Textual evidence: ”{ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةٌ فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ } (النساء ١١) … { فَإِنْ كُنْ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثًا مَا تَرَكَ } (النساء ١١) … { وَلِأَبُوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ… }”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 172: He makes it the starting point for a theoretical construction that distinguishes between special bequest and general inheritance and establishes a new reading of inheritance.
    • Concept: justice
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: ”{ يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ } … does not distinguish between general justice in the verses of inheritance and special justice in the verses of bequest”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 172: He attacks the juristic reading that takes it to include two daughters and affirms that, in his view, the text applies only to more than two.
    • Concept: number of daughters
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: ”{ فَإِنَّ كُنَّ نِسَاءَ فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ } … they read it: if they are women, two and above”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: if they are women, two and above
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 173: He criticizes the masculine generalization of the phrase and says that it is not applied to all cases, but within the specific structure of the verse according to the number of females.
    • Concept: relative equality
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: ”{ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الأُنثَيَيْنِ } as though it meant: for the male, the share of one female, or: the female has half the share of the male”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: applying it to all cases of inheritance
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 176: He uses it to argue that the share of father and mother is equal when there is a child, and that speaking of the two parents, not the two progenitors, opens the door to distinguishing between father/fatherhood and mother/motherhood.
    • Concept: roots
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: ”{ وَلَأَبَوَيهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ }”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 179: He uses it together with verse 12 of An-Nisa to build the order of division, and confirms that two daughters do not fall under the ruling of ‘more than two’.
    • Concept: daughters
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: ”{ فَإِنْ كُنْ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ }”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 193: He redefines the subject of the inheritance verse as children, understood as descendants that include both males and females.
    • Concept: children
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: “The first verse of the verses of inheritance in the Wise Revelation begins with the Exalted’s saying: { يُوصِيكُمُ اللهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ } (النساء ١١)”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 202: He uses it to establish the rule that father and mother receive the sixth when there is a child, while distinguishing between the two parents and the two progenitors.
    • Concept: the two parents
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: ”{ وَلِأَبُوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ }”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 202: He relies on the verse to establish the rules of inheritance for the roots, and infers from it the equality of the father’s and mother’s share when there are children, and the inheritance of the roots without confining the wording to biological parents.
    • Concept: inheritance
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: “And the first thing we note in this verse is that He said { ولأبويه }, and did not say: to his parents…”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 223: He cites it to state that the verses of inheritance contain limits and prescribed shares, and makes it an example of the organization of the legal field of inheritance.
    • Concept: prescribed shares
    • Function of the verse here: foundation
    • Textual evidence: “The Exalted says: { يُوصِيكُمُ اللهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ } (النساء ١١)”
  • Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 52: He uses it to affirm that the word children includes male and female, and criticizes the tradition’s restriction of the child to the male in service of a political struggle over inheritance.
    • Concept: male and female child
    • Function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • Textual evidence: “Thus the child became male, despite His saying, the Exalted: { يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهَ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ } (النساء ٤). And despite the fact that anyone hearing this saying … understands that among the children there are males and females”
    • Corresponding traditional reading: restricting the child to the male

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

Graph View

Backlinks12

Muhammad Shahrur Atlas