This axis brings together two instances in which this verse is used in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
And all that We relate to you of the accounts of the messengers is that by which We strengthen your heart; and in this there has come to you the truth, and an admonition and a reminder for the believers.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Hud 120 in understanding the function of Qur’anic narratives?
Shahrur employs the verse to establish that the purpose of the stories of prophets and messengers is to strengthen the heart, point to the truth, and provide admonition and remembrance for believers. In his classificatory framework, he places narratives within the “Qur’an,” which he calls the Book of the Sciences of Prophethood, rather than within the “Book of the Message,” which he connects to verses of rulings; consequently, he does not treat narratives as a source for producing detailed rulings.
Shahrur understands from Hud 120 that the divine purpose of the stories of prophets and messengers is to point to the truth and provide admonition and remembrance, while the verse also indicates the strengthening of the heart. He connects this understanding to his call to move beyond stopping at the text’s expressions toward investigating the worlds expressed by the text. Shahrur considers narratives part of the “Qur’an”/the Book of the Sciences of Prophethood, as opposed to the Book of the Message, which he describes as the Book of Rulings; from this classification, it is understood that narratives are not, for him, a domain for producing detailed rulings.
Evidence and Location
Qur’anic Narratives, Vol. 1 — p. 17.
Limits of the Reading
- The evidence establishes Shahrur’s reading of the purpose of narratives in this verse, but does not by itself demonstrate all the details of his method for distinguishing between the Qur’an and the Message.
- The phrase “not producing detailed rulings” is not a direct quotation from the passage citing the verse; rather, it is a conclusion connected to his explicitly stated classification in the evidence between narratives/the Qur’an and the Book of Rulings/the Message.
- The other evidence on p. 122 of “Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence” cannot serve as evidence for Hud 120, because it cites two verses from al-Rum 30 and Hud 88 and does not address the verse on this page.
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Brief Reading
For Shahrur, the verse appears as a statement of the function of narratives in strengthening the heart and presenting truth, admonition, and remembrance, rather than in producing detailed rulings.
Axes
- Narrative and historical
- Methodological
Related Concepts
- Admonition and truth: 2
- Strengthening the heart: 1
- Qur’anic narratives: 1
- Report: 1
- Prophethood: 1
- General information: 1
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the concept of narratives as a domain of strengthening and remembrance within the methodological framework of the reading.
The Verse’s Role in the Argument
- Foundational: 2
Contexts of Use
- Qur’anic Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 17: He cites it to argue that the function of narratives is to strengthen the heart and present truth, admonition, and remembrance, rather than to produce detailed rulings.
- Concept: Admonition and truth
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “When we examined His saying, exalted is He: {And all that We relate to you of the accounts of the messengers … and an admonition and a reminder for the believers} (Hud 120), we understood that the divine purpose of the stories of prophets and messengers is precisely: pointing to the truth, admonition, and remembrance.”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 122: He uses it to define a report as general information that may admit truth or illusion and belongs within the domain of prophethood.
- Concept: Report
- Function of the verse here: Foundational
- Textual evidence: “{ And every soul We relate to you of the accounts of the messengers, that by which We strengthen your heart … } (Hud 121).”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.