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This axis gathers 3 places where this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

The verse text as quoted

The female fornicator and the male fornicator, flog each one of them one hundred lashes…

Brief reading

The verse is presented as an example of an interim ruling in zinā, with a refusal to make it abrogative of others and to confine it to a specific context.

Axes

  • Legislative
  • Human and ethical
  • Zinā: 2
  • The legal limit for zinā: 2
  • Limits: 2

Its place in the conceptual network

It enters into the network of limits and the relationship between legislation and prior revelation.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Example: 2
  • Critique of tradition: 1

Usage instances

  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 385: He rejects the claim that it abrogates verses 15 and 16 of Surat al-Nisā’, and confines it to public zinā between a male and a female, not to same-sex obscenities.
    • Concept: Zinā
    • Function of the verse here: Critique of tradition
    • Textual evidence: “Those who held that there is abrogation have gone to the view that verse 2 of Surat al-Nūr … abrogated verses 15 and 16 of al-Nisā’ … and we hold that this is wrong”
    • The corresponding traditional reading: those who held that there is abrogation
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 392: He presents it as an example of an interim ruling milder than the previous Jewish legislation, while retaining the minimum threshold of punishment.
    • Concept: The legal limit for zinā
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual evidence: “The verse remained a limiting verse, but it moved toward mitigation … {THE FEMALE FORNICATOR AND THE MALE FORNICATOR, FLOG EACH ONE OF THEM …} (al-Nūr 2)”
  • Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 52: He compares it with a harsher Torah ruling to argue that the Revelation brought something better than it in the punishment for zinā.
    • Concept: Limits
    • Function of the verse here: Example
    • Textual evidence: “And in the Book of God: {THE FEMALE FORNICATOR AND THE MALE FORNICATOR, FLOG EACH ONE OF THEM …} (al-Nūr 2).”
    • The corresponding traditional reading: stoning in the Torah or in traditional jurisprudence.

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

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas