This page brings together five instances of the use of al-Nisāʾ 176 in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, and shows how it became a focal point for explaining kalāla, fatwā, and the meaning of perishing. Its importance here lies in linking the ruling to its proper locus, and in distinguishing between a person’s death and the cessation of his effect or the absence of a descendant or ascendant.
The text of the verse as cited
Say: God gives you a fatwā concerning kalāla: if a man perishes, and has no child
Brief reading
In Shahrur’s reading, the verse is understood as a clarification of the state of kalāla, not merely an indication of death. Through it he defines perishing as the cessation of effect together with the absence of the ascendant or descendant, then arrives at the meaning of fatwā as a ruling issued in its proper place and attributed to its source.
Axes
- Legislative
- Linguistic and semantic
- Human and ethical
Related concepts
- perishing: 3
- fatwā: 3
- kalāla: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
The verse occupies a linking position between three adjacent concepts: kalāla, perishing, and fatwā. For this reason it appears in the atlas at the boundary of inheritance law and at the boundary of linguistic signification, where it is used to establish a specific meaning for the Qur’anic ruling, not to expand the meaning beyond its context.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Support: 3
- Foundation: 2
Summary of its presence in the atlas
- A focal point for kalāla in Shahrur’s juristic reading
- A recurring proof-text in fixing the meaning of fatwā and perishing
- Linked to inheritance and to semantic distinction
Instances of use
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 291: cited to distinguish human perishing as the cessation of effect, not a cycle of life and death.
- Concept: perishing
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «For His – تعالى – saying: {قُلِ اللهِ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِي الْكَلَالَةِ …} (al-Nisāʾ 176).»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 291: cited to define human perishing as the cessation of effect due to the absence of an ascendant or descendant, not merely death.
- Concept: perishing
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: «So the perishing of a human being is the cessation of his effect … for His – تعالى – saying: {قُلِ اللهِ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِي الْكَلَالَةِ إِنِ امْرُؤٌ هَلَكَ لَيْسَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ} (al-Nisāʾ 176).»
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 293: relied on to approximate the meaning of fatwā as the connection of a ruling to its source, in preparation for explaining the meaning of fatā and fatāh.
- Concept: fatwā
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «And God – عزّ وجلّ – also gives a fatwā: {They ask you for a fatwā; say: God gives you a fatwā concerning kalāla} (al-Nisāʾ 176).»
- A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 65: used to confirm that issuing a fatwā is tied to the issuance of a ruling by a specific authority and its attribution to its source.
- Concept: fatwā
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: «From here came the concept of fatwā, because fatwā is linked to its issuer … and God, عز وجل, also gives a fatwā: {They ask you for a fatwā; say: God gives you a fatwā concerning kalāla…} (al-Nisāʾ 176).»
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 210: makes the verse the basis for explaining the second state of kalāla, and uses it to determine the inheritance of one who dies without ascendants or descendants, with only siblings present.
- Concept: kalāla
- Function of the verse here: Foundation
- Textual citation: «The Wise Revelation addressed this state in the verse: {They ask you for a fatwā; say: God gives you a fatwā concerning kalāla …} (al-Nisāʾ 176), which is what is called the second state of kalāla.»
Related books
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism
- A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
This page is presented within the general methodology of atlas construction.