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.
The text of the verse as cited
Had We made it a non-Arabic Qur’an, they would have said, “Why have its verses not been explained in detail? A non-Arabic [Qur’an] and an Arab [messenger]?”
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Shahrur employ God’s saying, “Had We made it a non-Arabic Qur’an … a non-Arabic and an Arabic [one],” in his conception of the relationship between Arabic and non-Arabic elements within the Revelation?
Shahrur employs the verse to maintain that “the detailed exposition of the verses” means, in his reading, separating the verses of the Revelation from one another according to language. He thus makes the messengerhood and the detailed exposition of the Book Arabic, while making the Qur’an non-Arabic. Accordingly, he understands the phrase “a non-Arabic and an Arabic [one]” as indicating a distinction between a non-Arabic section and an Arabic section, rather than merely an objection to the Qur’an’s being revealed in a language other than Arabic.
Shahrur states explicitly that the detailed exposition of the Book in the Arabic language renders it, in his conception, composed of two sections, Arabic and non-Arabic, and that their verses are intermingled prior to their separation. He interprets “its verses have been explained in detail” as the separation of some verses from others, and takes the pronoun in “its verses” to refer to the entirety of the Revelation, which he calls “the Remembrance.”
Citation and location
The Book and the Qur’an — p. 105.
Limits of the reading
- This presentation describes Shahrur’s reading as it appears in the cited passage and does not settle the meaning of the verse outside that reading.
- The excerpt ends while Shahrur is citing subsequent verses from the surah; therefore, the remainder of his evidentiary argument is not available from this passage alone.
- The mere occurrence of “non-Arabic” and “Arabic” in the verse is not sufficient to establish a division of the Revelation into two sections; the connection here is established because Shahrur himself explicitly makes this use of it.
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Brief reading
He makes it a basis for arguing that some parts of the Book may be non-Arabic while other verses remain Arabic.
Axes
- Linguistic and semantic
- Methodological
Related concepts
- Qur’anic language: 2
- Arabic: 1
- Verses: 1
Its place in the network of concepts
It establishes the separation of verses from one another in terms of language.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Foundational: 1
Instances of use
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 105: He makes it a basis for arguing that some parts of the Book may be non-Arabic while other verses remain Arabic, and that what is meant is the separation of verses from one another.
- Concept: Qur’anic language
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual citation: “… {Had We made it a non-Arabic Qur’an, they would have said, ‘Why have its verses not been explained in detail? A non-Arabic and an Arabic [one]?’}”
- Corresponding traditional reading: the understanding that regards the Qur’an as wholly Arabic, without differentiation within its internal structure
Related books
This page is presented within the general methodology for constructing the atlas.