Originator 1

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This node brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

The Verse Text as Cited

ORIGINATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH

Reader’s Answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the description of God as “Originator of the heavens and the earth” in his understanding of the beginning of the universe?

Shahrur uses the verse to indicate that the heavens and the earth are not eternal, but were in a state of connection and then separated. He describes this separation as having occurred through a cosmic explosion. In his terminology, he distinguishes this meaning from “creation” (khalq), which he defines as design, and from “origination” (ibdāʿ), which for him denotes the absence of precedent.

Shahrur reads “Originator of the heavens and the earth” as indicating that the heavens and the earth were together and then separated, and that this separation occurred through an explosion.

Evidence and Location

The Book and the Qur’an — p. 202.

Limits of the Reading

  • The evidence establishes Shahrur’s particular reading of the term “Originator” (fāṭir), but does not independently provide proof here for the cosmological model or for his definitions of creation and origination.
  • The description of the separation as an “explosion” appears explicitly in the evidence, but it is an interpretation that Shahrur adds to the verse; it should therefore not be presented as the verse’s only meaning without comparison with other readings.
  • The reference to fiṭra in the second evidence item is not sufficient to establish that Originator 1 directly concerns human fiṭra; the context there is an extension of Shahrur’s concept.

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Brief Reading

He interprets it to distinguish fatr, as the separation through a cosmic explosion of what had been connected, from the usual meanings of creation and origination.

Axes

  • Methodological
  • Linguistic and semantic
  • fatr: 2
  • fiṭra: 2

Its Place in the Conceptual Network

It contributes to his specification of cosmic vocabulary and his linking of the transformation of an origin into a form.

The Verse’s Role in the Argument

  • Distinction: 1
  • Support: 1

Instances of Use

  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 202: He interprets fatr as the separation through a cosmic explosion of what had been connected, distinguishing it from creation and origination.
    • Concept: fatr
    • Function of the verse here: Distinction
    • Textual evidence: “- {ORIGINATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH} (Originator 1).”
  • A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation, p. 44: He employs it to connect fiṭra with the fact that things are originated and changing, rather than eternal and fixed.
    • Concept: fiṭra
    • Function of the verse here: Support
    • Textual evidence: “Fiṭra … according to His saying, exalted is He: { PRAISE BE TO GOD, ORIGINATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH… } (Originator 1)”

This page is presented within the atlas’s overall atlas-building methodology.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas