This axis brings together 1 occurrence of this verse’s use in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
“Do not exalt yourselves above me, but come to me in submission.”
Reader’s Answer
Question
Where does Qur’an 27:31 occur, how does Shahrur distinguish in it between Islam, yielding, and surrender, and what function does it serve in his argument?
The verse occurs in Surat al-Naml (31). Shahrur makes it an example of “Islam” when it is connected to a human being; he understands it as surrender to the one to whom it relates in the context of the verse, rather than as yielding to God. The example serves his argument against generalizing the meaning of surrender to all occurrences of Islam.
Shahrur regards the phrase “come to me in submission” in al-Naml 31 as an example of Islam occurring in connection with a person, and interprets it as surrender to the one with whom the word is associated in the context of the verse. Shahrur distinguishes between Islam when it is connected to God, in which case he makes it yielding to Him, and when it is connected to people, in which case he makes it surrender in the context of the verse. Qur’an 27:31 functions in Shahrur’s argument as a counterexample to generalizing the meaning of surrender across all occurrences of Islam—a generalization he attributes to the jurists on the basis of their claim of synonymy.
Citation and Location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 534.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation does not describe this surrender as “authoritarian”; rather, it connects it to people and to the one with whom the word is associated in the context of the verse.
- The citation does not establish an independent linguistic rule beyond this contextual distinction presented by Shahrur.
- This passage alone does not establish broader details about the relationship between Islam and faith, or about all uses of the root in the Qur’an.
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Brief Reading
The verse is read as meaning that Islam here is surrender within a human political context, not general doctrinal submission.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Faith
Related Concepts
- Surrender: 2
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It helps distinguish contextual signification from technical meaning.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Distinction: 1
Contexts of Use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 534: He makes it an example showing that the meaning of Islam here is surrender in a human authoritarian context, not doctrinal submission.
- Concept: surrender
- Function of the verse here: distinction
- Textual citation: “As in His saying, Exalted is He: {Do not exalt yourselves above me, but come to me in submission}”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.