This axis brings together 4 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Verse text as cited
O People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion… The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only the Messenger of God and His word… So believe in God and His messengers, and do not say, ‘Three.’ Desist; it is better for you… God is only one God. Glory be to Him that He should have a son…
Brief reading
Shahrur sees it as a gentle address confronting excess regarding Christ and calling for transcendence without closing the door to repentance.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Human and ethical
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Excess: 2
- Transcendence: 2
- The word: 2
- Messengership: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It connects transcendence and the station of messengership within a calm treatment of the doctrine of Christ.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Distinction: 2
- Critique of tradition: 1
- Support: 1
Places of use
- Islam and Humanity: He makes it a gentle address that rejects both incarnation and trinitarianism and opens the door to repentance.
- Concept: excess
- Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
- Textual citation: «{ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ … وَلَا تَقُولُوا ثَلَاثَةٌ … } (النساء ١٧١)»
- Counter-traditional reading: excess concerning Christ, or saying “three”
- Islam and Faith, p. 246: He sees it as the gentlest Qur’anic address concerning the Christians, since it calls them to stop saying “three” without prohibition or severe threat.
- Concept: transcendence
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual citation: «ت- { يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَعْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ … } (النساء ١٧١).»
- Counter-traditional reading: the Christians’ saying “three”
- State and Society, p. 23: He relies on it to link Christ, described as a word from God, to the concept of the decisive, operative decree in existence.
- Concept: the word
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual citation: «And in His saying — Exalted is He —: {إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ…} (النساء 171).»
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 138: He mentions it within the classification of prophets and messengers to distinguish the station of messengership from mere prophethood.
- Concept: messengership
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual citation: «And Jesus: { إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ اللهِ }»
Related books
- Islam and Humanity
- Islam and Faith
- State and Society
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
This page is presented within the general method of atlas construction.