This axis brings together 1 locus of 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
T… […] It is not for God to take a son. Glory be to Him. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, “When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is,” in Maryam 35, and what does the available evidence establish concerning Maryam 35–36?
Shahrur employs Maryam 35 to explain his conception of the meaning of “decree” (qadaʾ): for him, qadaʾ may mean a command or a prohibition, but in this passage he links its coming into effect to God’s saying to the matter, “Be,” and it is. He presents this in a sequential formulation: “He decreed a matter ← He says to it (the saying of truth) ← Be, and it is (the words).” The evidence does not make the story of Jesus the focus of the argument, nor does it explain verse 36; rather, it cites specifically a phrase from verse 35 within a discussion of decree and predestination and human freedom.
Shahrur cites Maryam 35 as a verse that demonstrates, in his reading, the condition for the coming into effect of the divine decree: that the decree be through God’s words, in the form of “He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” Shahrur places this citation within his objection to the deterministic understanding of decree and predestination; after surveying the verses, he says that the concept of decree and predestination respects human freedom and decisions.
Evidence and location
The State and Society — p. 23.
Limits of the reading
- The evidence cites Maryam 35 only; it does not provide an independent interpretation of verse 36 (“Indeed, God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him”).
- The evidence does not establish that Shahrur employs the story of Jesus itself as a principal example, because the argument presented focuses on the phrase “When He decrees a matter…”.
- The evidence does not support the claim that what is intended is “creation beyond human choice”; its stated subject is decree and predestination and their relation to human freedom.
- This is an account of Shahrur’s use of the verse in his argument, not a resolution of the exegetical meaning of the verse outside that use.
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Brief reading
The story of Jesus is used here as an example of divine decree connected to the word and to creation beyond human choice.
Axes
- Faith-related
- Narrative and historical
Related concepts
- The word: 2
Its place in the network of concepts
It belongs to the network of interpreting creation through the word within the faith-related reading.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 1
Places of use
- The State and Society, p. 23: He uses the story of Jesus as an example of divine decree connected to the word and to creation external to human choice.
- Concept: the word
- Function of the verse here: example
- Textual evidence: “Just as the birth of Christ without a father was subject to this in His—exalted be He—saying: {That is Jesus, son of Mary…} (Maryam 34, 35).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.