This node brings together 2 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
And for everyone We have appointed heirs to what parents and relatives leave behind
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the opening of verse 33 of Surat al-Nisa’ in his discussion of the inheritance system?
Shahrur employs the verse within a historical account of the development of inheritance rules, rather than treating it here as an independent basis on which to build a new ruling. He relates that earlier rules were based on kinship and covenant, associating the opening of the verse with inheritance by kinship, and its following part—“And those to whom your oaths have bound you, give them their share”—with inheritance by covenant.
Shahrur cites al-Nisa’ 33 in the context of a historical narrative concerning inheritance in the Abode of Migration and the rules of inheritance that preceded it. In this narrative, Shahrur attributes to what he reports from scholars the view that the words, “And for everyone We have appointed heirs to what parents and relatives leave behind,” indicate inheritance by kinship, while the words, “And those to whom your oaths have bound you, give them their share,” indicate inheritance by covenant.
Citation and location
Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 178.
Limits of the reading
- The citation is excerpted and ends while recounting a report about al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam; therefore, the attachment alone does not establish the full historical sequence or the conclusion of Shahrur’s argument.
- The association of the opening of the verse with inheritance by kinship is presented in the citation as a view attributed to “the scholars,” with Shahrur referring to al-Razi’s al-Tafsir al-Kabir; it should therefore not be turned into an independent linguistic assertion by Shahrur without additional evidence.
- This citation alone is insufficient to establish the broader claim, in categorical terms, that the verse describes “the transition of inheritance systems before Qur’anic legislation was completed”; what is established is that he places it within a narrative of changing inheritance rules.
Continue from here
Brief reading
The verse occurs in a historical context describing the transition of inheritance systems before Qur’anic legislation was completed.
Themes
- Narrative and historical
- Legislative
Related concepts
- Inheritance: 2
- Covenant: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It connects the ancient covenant with the gradual development of inheritance legislation.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Context: 2
Instances of use
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 178: He mentions it within a historical account of the transition of inheritance systems before Qur’anic legislation was completed, not as an independent basis for him here.
- Concept: Inheritance
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual citation: “The scholars said that God affirmed them in this, saying: { And for everyone We have appointed heirs to what parents and relatives leave behind } (al-Nisa’ 33).”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 178: He cites it to explain inheritance by covenant in the pre-Islamic period and the first phase of the Migration, before the inheritance rules were established.
- Concept: Covenant
- Function of the verse here: Context
- Textual citation: “{ And those to whom your oaths have bound you, give them their share } (al-Nisa’ 33), meaning inheritance by covenant.”
Related books
This page is presented within the atlas’s general methodology for building the atlas.