al-Nisa’ 59

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This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it is one of the loci of obedience and authority, and in it he distinguishes between obedience tied to legislation and absolute obedience to persons. For this reason, it appears in his critique of religious and political despotism.

Verse text as cited

O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you

Brief reading

Shahrur understands the verse to mean that obedience to those vested with authority is not an open-ended delegation of power, but obedience within the limits of legislation and the reference framework defined by the text. From here he distinguishes between the position of authority and what issues from it, so that persons are not made an independent source of obedience.

Axes

  • political and social
  • methodological
  • legislative
  • Ulū al-amr: 4
  • Ulū al-amr: 3
  • obedience: 2
  • obedience to the Messenger: 2

Its place in the network of concepts

The verse is linked to obedience, authority, those vested with authority, and legislation. It is important because it regulates the believer’s relationship to the public sphere and prevents obedience from becoming absolute submission.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • critique of the inherited tradition: 2
  • foundation: 2
  • support: 2
  • distinction: 1

Summary of its presence in the atlas

  • Obedience is tied to legislation.
  • A distinction is made between authority and persons.
  • It appears in the critique of absolute obedience and despotism.

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.

Uses

  • State and Society, p. 21: cited to argue that inserting those vested with authority into absolute divine obedience is a traditional reading that produced political despotism.
    • concept: obedience
    • function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • textual evidence: “{O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you} (al-Nisa’ 59).”
    • corresponding traditional reading: considering the ruler to be God’s representative on earth, and rebelling against him to be disobedience to God
  • State and Society, p. 232: makes the verse the basis for the idea that obedience to those vested with authority means obedience to the legislation they issue, not obedience to their persons.
    • concept: Ulū al-amr
    • function of the verse here: foundation
    • textual evidence: “As stated in the Almighty’s words: {Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you} (al-Nisa’ 59), this text made clear in its phrase ‘among you’ that our relationship to this authority … must be direct, that is, obedience to the legislation they issue directly”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 149: uses the verse as a pivot for critiquing the traditional interpretation, and says that “those vested with authority” does not mean princes or the Prophet’s family, but is broader and more precise in its linguistic signification.
    • concept: Ulū al-amr
    • function of the verse here: critique of the tradition
    • textual evidence: “Then God, Mighty and Majestic, sent down His words: {Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you}”
    • corresponding traditional reading: Ibn Kathir interpreted it as rulers and scholars, while al-Tabrisi interpreted it as the imams from the family of Muhammad.
  • The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought, p. 25: relies on it to view those vested with authority as exercising civil legislative authority within the bounds of society.
    • concept: Ulū al-amr
    • function of the verse here: support
    • textual evidence: “{O you who believe, obey God … and those vested with authority among you} (al-Nisa’ 59)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 30: employs it to say that obedience to the Messenger and those vested with authority is connected to organizing society during the time of the message and ceases with changing circumstances or death.
    • concept: obedience to the Messenger
    • function of the verse here: support
    • textual evidence: “{O you who believe, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you …} (al-Nisa’ 59)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 170: compares it with al-Ma’idah 55 and concludes that those vested with authority are the believers themselves, not rulers and sovereigns.
    • concept: Ulū al-amr
    • function of the verse here: distinction
    • textual evidence: “{Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you} (al-Nisa’ 59).”
    • corresponding traditional reading: jurists’ interpretation of those vested with authority as rulers and people of binding and loosening
  • A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 44: uses it to ground the idea that those vested with authority are the legislative authority whose legislation is obeyed in its own time.
    • concept: Ulū al-amr
    • function of the verse here: foundation
    • textual evidence: “Those vested with authority … because of the Almighty’s words: { … Obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you … } (al-Nisa’ 59).”

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

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