This axis brings together 1 instance of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
“Indeed, I have perceived a fire; I will bring you news from it.”
Reader’s response
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ God’s saying, “I will bring you news from it,” to distinguish between khabar (report) and nabaʾ (tidings)?
Shahrur employs the verse as evidence that khabar, in his view, is detailed information with a reporter, linking this to Moses’s having seen the fire and then promised his family that he would bring them news from it. In the accompanying text, he makes the presence of the narrator of the report and his witnessing of the event a condition of khabar, in contrast to nabaʾ, which he describes as general, unseen, and having no reporter.
Shahrur defines khabar as information that may be true or false, right or mistaken, because it has a reporter; he describes it as detailed and extended. He cites al-Naml 7—“Indeed, I have perceived a fire; I will bring you news from it”—to establish that the narrator of a report must be present and witness its occurrence with his own eyes. Shahrur contrasts khabar with nabaʾ: nabaʾ, in his view, is general, concise, and unseen, and has no reporter, whereas khabar is detailed and has a reporter.
Citation and location
Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence — p. 122.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes that Shahrur used the verse to support the condition of presence and witnessing in khabar, but the verse alone does not demonstrate all elements of his definition of khabar, such as its possibility of being true or false or its being detailed and extended.
- The excerpt offers no independent linguistic or exegetical analysis of the verse, nor does it present the views of other exegetes.
- The terminological distinction between khabar and nabaʾ in this passage should be attributed to Shahrur, rather than presented as an agreed-upon meaning of the two terms.
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Brief reading
It is cited to show that a report is detailed information conveyed by someone who witnessed the event.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Report: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It serves a semantic specification of the concept of report within the argument.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Example: 1
Instances of use
- Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 122: It is cited to show that a report is detailed information conveyed by someone who witnessed the event.
- Concept: report
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual citation: “For His—exalted be He—saying: { … ‘Indeed, I have perceived a fire; I will bring you news from it’ } (al-Naml 7).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.