This axis brings together 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 Verse as Cited
{And had your Lord willed, He could have made humanity one community; yet they continue to differ}
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ the Qur’anic statement, {And had your Lord willed, He could have made humanity one community; yet they continue to differ}, in understanding difference and pluralism?
Shahrur employs the verse to support the idea that differences among people are an enduring reality within the norms of creation, extending in his view to differences in cultures and beliefs. He therefore links it to the rejection of coercion in guidance and to the idea that universal faith among all people is not a realistic aim, because this, in his reading, contradicts pluralism and freedom of choice.
Shahrur holds that cultural differences among people are inevitable, beginning with belief and extending to particulars, while knowledge and freedom of choice constitute a common denominator among them. He employs Hud 118 as an expression of the Qur’an’s realism “even in matters of faith”: although faith is called for, believers should not aspire to the faith of all the people of the earth, because this aspiration, in his view, conflicts with pluralism, which he regards as one of the norms of creation. Shahrur links this understanding to a method of guidance through argument and evidence rather than coercion, presenting it in the context of his discussion of freedom of choice and human differences. Evidence and location: in State and Society, p. 298, Shahrur states explicitly that differences in cultures are “unavoidable” and that aspiring to the faith of all the people of the earth is “hopeless” because it is against pluralism; he then directly cites Hud 118.
Evidence and Location
State and Society — p. 298.
Limits of the Reading
- This is Shahrur’s reading and use of the verse; it is not an account of exegetical disagreement over its meaning.
- The evidence supports discussion of cultural and doctrinal difference, the rejection of coercion in guidance, and the absence of an expectation that faith can be unified among humanity; however, it does not set out an institutional account of a state system or a specific political legislation.
- Describing pluralism as “a norm among God’s norms in creation” is Shahrur’s assertion in the cited evidence, not a conclusion generated merely from verbal similarity between the verse and contemporary concepts.
Continue From Here
Brief Reading
The verse is taken as a basis for establishing that difference is an inescapable norm, and that pluralism is closer to the norms of society than coerced unity.
Axes
- Political and social
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Pluralism: 2
- Difference: 2
- Norms: 1
- Rejection of coerced unity: 1
Its Place in the Network of Concepts
It is connected to the construction of a social conception that makes difference part of the general order.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 1
- Supportive: 1
Instances of Use
- State and Society, p. 298: He cites it as evidence that difference is an inescapable norm, and that even faith is not intended to become forcibly uniform.
- Concept: Pluralism
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “The Wise Revelation employed this common denominator in His—exalted is He—statement: {And had your Lord willed, He could have made humanity one community; yet they continue to differ} (Hud 118), so that we may see the Qur’an’s realism even in matters of faith.”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 128: He treats it as confirmation of the norm of difference among human beings and that coerced unity runs contrary to the norms.
- Concept: Difference
- Function of the verse here: Supportive
- Textual evidence: “{And had your Lord willed, He could have made humanity one community; yet they continue to differ} (Hud 118).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the atlas’s general methodology for constructing the atlas.