Women 59

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This verse recurs in Shahrur’s project because it concerns obedience and authority. In it, he distinguishes between obedience connected to legislation and absolute obedience to persons. It therefore figures in his critique of religious and political despotism.

The Verse as Cited

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

Reader’s Answer

The Question

How does Shahrur read the command to obey “those in authority” in Women 59? Does he make it an absolute obedience to the ruler?

No. Shahrur objects to turning the verse into support for perpetual and absolute obedience to those in authority as though it were obedience to God. He presents “those in authority” as representatives of a legislative authority in society; for him, obedience is thus connected to the function and organization of authority, not to deifying the ruler or making him God’s representative on earth.

Shahrur holds that merging the forms of obedience mentioned in the verses, so that obedience to those in authority is understood as though it were obedience to God, produced a despotic conception that makes the ruler God’s representative and makes disobedience to him liable to incur the wrath of God and the Messenger.

Evidence and Location

The State and Society — p. 21.

Limits of the Reading

  • The evidence here does not provide a complete procedural account of the nature of legislation or of the mechanisms for selecting and holding “those in authority” accountable.
  • Shahrur’s description of them as “representatives of the legislative authority” is part of his interpretive and political model, not a neutral statement of an agreed meaning of the verse.
  • The omission of a repeated occurrence of the verb “obey” in the Qur’anic phrasing alone is insufficient to establish the limits of obedience; the claim presented rests on Shahrur’s broader interpretation as he expressly states it in the cited evidence.

Continue from Here

Brief Reading

Shahrur understands the verse to mean that obedience to those in authority is not an open-ended delegation to authority, but obedience within the limits of legislation and the reference framework determined by the text. From this, he distinguishes between the position of authority and what proceeds from it, without making persons an independent source of obedience.

Themes

  • Political and social
  • Methodological
  • Legislative

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

The verse is connected to obedience, authority, those in authority, and legislation. It is important because it regulates the believer’s relationship to the public sphere and prevents obedience from being transformed into absolute submission.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Critique of tradition: 2
  • Foundational: 2
  • Support: 2
  • Distinction: 1

Summary of Its Presence in the Atlas

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

Atlas Pages 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.

Contexts of Use

  • The State and Society, p. 21: He cites it to argue that inserting those in authority into absolute divine obedience is a traditional reading that produced political despotism.
    • Concept: obedience
    • Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “{O you who believe, obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you} (Women 59).”
    • Opposing traditional reading: regarding the ruler as God’s representative on earth and rebellion against him as disobedience to God
  • The State and Society, p. 232: He makes the verse the basis for holding that obedience to those in authority is obedience to the legislation they issue, not obedience to their persons.
    • Concept: those in authority
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “As stated in His—Exalted be He—words: {Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you} (Women 59), this text clarified through the phrase “among you” that our relationship to this authority … must be direct, that is, by obeying the legislation they directly issue.”
  • The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna, p. 149: He uses the verse as a focal point for criticizing traditional interpretation, stating that “those in authority” does not mean princes or the Family of the House, but has a broader and more precise linguistic signification than that.
    • Concept: Those in Authority
    • Function of the verse here: critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “So God Almighty revealed His words: {Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you}.”
    • Opposing 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: He relies on it to maintain that those vested with authority exercise a civil legislative authority within the limits of society.
    • Concept: those in authority
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: “{O you who believe, obey God … and those in authority among you} (Women 59)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 30: He employs it to argue that obedience to the Messenger and to those vested with authority pertains to the organization of 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, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you …} (Women 59)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 170: He compares it with Table 55 to conclude that those in authority are the believers themselves, not rulers and sultans.
    • Concept: Those in Authority
    • Function of the verse here: distinction
    • Textual evidence: “{Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you} (Women 59).”
    • Opposing traditional reading: the jurists’ interpretation of those in authority as rulers and those qualified to bind and loose
  • Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 44: He uses it to ground the idea that those in authority are the legislative authority whose legislation is obeyed in its own time.
    • Concept: those in authority
    • Function of the verse here: foundational
    • Textual evidence: “Those in authority … according to His exalted words: { … Obey God, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you … } (Women 59).”

This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas