This thematic entry brings together 1 locus of use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the verse as cited
O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own until you have sought permission and greeted their inhabitants
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Qur’an 24:27 in his discussion of Islam?
Shahrur cites the verse on seeking permission when entering other people’s homes among a group of verses dealing with human conduct in interaction, knowledge, and ethics. The citation occurs in the context of his objection to restricting the “pillars of Islam” to rituals; he presents these verses before stating that this restriction is a “serious distortion.” The page therefore establishes that, for him, the verse serves as evidence that Islam cannot be reduced to rituals, rather than as the subject of an independent detailed interpretation.
Shahrur cites Qur’an 24:27, with its wording concerning not entering others’ homes until seeking permission and offering greetings, within a series of verses on the same page. He places this citation in the context of criticizing the “alleged pillars of Islam,” which include rituals alone, and maintains that the Islamic religion with God is the religion of human innate nature.
Citation and location
Islam and Faith — p. 23.
Limits of the reading
- The evidence consists of one page, and its excerpt establishes the occurrence of the verse and its polemical context, but it does not establish a detailed explanation of the verse.
- Describing the verse as “social and ethical etiquette” is an interpretive description inferred from the content of the command and the context of the list of verses, not an explicit designation in the supplied text.
- No detailed position should be attributed to Shahrur regarding the rulings on entering homes or the meaning of isti’nas on the basis of this evidence alone.
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Brief reading
Shahrur cites the verse as an example of the social and ethical etiquette that, in his view, falls within Islam.
Themes
- Humanistic and ethical
- Political and social
Related concepts
- Seeking permission: 2
- Etiquette of entering: 1
- Ethical conduct: 1
- Social life: 1
Place in the network of concepts
It falls within the construction of norms of interaction in the social sphere.
Role of the verse in the argument
- Support: 1
Loci of use
- Islam and Faith, p. 23: He cites it as an example of the social and ethical etiquette that, in his view, falls within Islam.
- Concept: seeking permission
- Function of the verse here: support
- Textual evidence: “- {O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own…} (Al-Nur 27).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.