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
And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, “God.”
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Almighty’s statement, ﴿And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, “God.”﴾, in his discussion of the Arab polytheists?
Shahrur employs the verse as evidence that the Arab polytheists knew God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. On this basis, he argues that their connection with God, in their own claim, was not severed, even though they associated partners with Him by making idols and saints intermediaries through whom to draw near to Him. He therefore says that the Revelation called them “polytheists” and did not call them “criminals.”
Shahrur understands from the verse that the Arab polytheists acknowledged that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He connects this acknowledgment to his idea that the “prayer of connection with God” remained among the polytheists and was not interrupted, while maintaining that the prayer of bowing and prostration had been lost among successors after the prophets. Shahrur states that the Revelation called these people “polytheists” and did not call them “criminals,” and explains their polytheism by saying that they regarded the worship of idols as a means of connection and drawing near to God, in their own claim.
Citation and Location
Islam and Faith — p. 256.
Limits of the Reading
- The citation establishes that Shahrur used Luqman 25 in this argument, but it does not provide an independent examination here of the meaning of “criminals” or of all occurrences of this designation in the Qur’an.
- Mere acknowledgment of the Creator should not, on the basis of the verse alone, be equated with Shahrur’s concept of the “prayer of connection”; this is an inferential connection that he explicitly states in the accompanying text.
- His citation of al-Zumar 3 to explain the polytheists’ purpose in worshipping saints appears in the same citation, but it is not part of the wording of Luqman 25.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
He employs it to say that the polytheists acknowledged the Creator; therefore, the Qur’an called them polytheists rather than criminals.
Axes
- Faith
- Linguistic and Semantic
Related Concepts
- Knowledge of the Creator: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It supports the semantic distinction between acknowledgment of the Creator and the description of polytheism.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Support: 1
Instances of Use
- Islam and Faith, p. 256: He employs it to say that the polytheists acknowledged the Creator; therefore, the Qur’an called them polytheists rather than criminals.
- Concept: Knowledge of the Creator
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “As evidenced by the Almighty’s statement concerning the Arab polytheists: {And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, ‘God’…} (Luqman 25).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.