This axis brings together 2 instances of the use of this verse in the books of Muhammad Shahrur, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
The Verse Text as Cited
Does man not remember that We created him before, when he was nothing?
Reader’s Answer
The Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur read the phrase “before” in the Almighty’s words: “Does man not remember that We created him before, when he was nothing?”
Shahrur employs the verse as an example that “before” does not indicate a single fixed temporal distance; here, in his account, it extends to the remote past—that is, to the moment of humanity’s first creation, when it was nothing.
Shahrur holds that the meaning of “before” changes according to the temporal context: it may refer to a recent past, or to decades, centuries, or a remote past. He makes Maryam 67 an example of the extension of “before” reaching back to the moment of first creation, relying on the verse’s phrase, “when he was nothing.”
Citation and Location
Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 1 — p. 129.
Limits of the Reading
- This page records Shahrur’s use of the verse in explaining the temporal scope of the phrase “before”; it does not offer a general interpretation of the verse or settle the meaning of creation and nonexistence across his project as a whole.
- The link between the verse and the concept of “nonexistence” in the other citation is not supported by a direct reference to Maryam 67; it should therefore not be presented as an interpretation of the verse.
- The description “remote past” here is Shahrur’s own phrasing in the citation, not a conclusion inferred from verbal similarity with other passages.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is taken as an example of reference to the remote past, at the moment of first creation and what precedes existence.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Faith-related
Related Concepts
- First creation: 2
- Nonexistence: 2
- Remote past: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It enters the network of creation and nonexistence as an indication of the origin of beginning.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Example: 1
- Support: 1
Instances of Use
- Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 1, p. 129: He cites it to extend the meaning of “before” to the remote past at the moment of first creation.
- Concept: First creation
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: “{Does man not remember that We created him before, when he was nothing?} (Maryam: 67)”
- Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism, p. 286: He adduces it as evidence that the human being and existence came from nonexistence, in the sense that the signifier preceded the signified.
- Concept: Nonexistence
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “As stated in His—Exalted is He—words: {Does man not remember … when he was nothing} (Maryam 67).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the atlas’s general atlas-building methodology.