This axis gathers 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 text of the verse as cited
How many a generation We destroyed before them—can you perceive any one of them or hear from them even a faint sound?
Reader’s answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, “How many a generation We destroyed before them—can you perceive any one of them or hear from them even a faint sound?” in distinguishing between destruction and death?
Shahrur uses the verse as evidence that the “destruction” of nations and civilizations is a one-way extinction: the historical collective disappears, leaving behind no presence that can be perceived or sound that can be heard. This differs from “death,” which he defines within the cycle of the succession of life and death. In his reading, the verse supports describing destruction as the disappearance of all trace and as irreversible, rather than as a mere transition from one state to another.
Shahrur cites Mary 98 to maintain that civilizations and nations “are destroyed and do not die,” and that their destruction occurs “without return.” Shahrur’s distinction between death as succession within the cycle of life and destruction as a one-way human phenomenon is a theoretical framework that he presents in the same passage, then applies through the verse to nations and civilizations.
Citation and location
The Drying Up of the Sources of Terrorism — p. 291.
Limits of the reading
- The citation establishes that Shahrur used the verse to support his conception of the destruction of nations and civilizations, but it does not by itself establish that this conception is the verse’s exclusive exegetical meaning.
- The historical examples Shahrur presents, such as the Romans, the Islamic caliphate, and the Soviet Union, belong to his applied construction and are not mentioned in the verse.
- The citation does not provide an independent linguistic study of the terms “generation” or “faint sound”; conclusions should therefore not be extended to detailed semantic claims about these two terms beyond this specific use.
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Brief reading
The verse is cited to portray the destruction of civilizations and nations as a complete disappearance that leaves no trace behind.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Political and social
Related concepts
- destruction: 2
- disappearance: 2
- erasure of traces: 1
- nations: 1
Its place in the conceptual network
It is connected to the historical law of destruction and the fate of unjust societies.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 1
- Support: 1
Instances of use
- The Drying Up of the Sources of Terrorism, p. 291: cited to affirm that civilizations and nations are destroyed without return or trace.
- Concept: destruction
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: “As stated: {How many a generation We destroyed before them …} (Mary 98).”
- The Drying Up of the Sources of Terrorism, p. 291: adduced to show that historical destruction results in the erasure of traces and the absence of any remaining faint sound or presence.
- Concept: disappearance
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “All of them were destroyed without return, as stated: {How many a generation We destroyed before them …} (Mary 98).”
Related books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.