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 text as quoted
She said, “Woe to me! Shall I bear a child while I am an old woman, and this husband of mine is an old man? This is indeed a strange thing.”
Brief reading
In Shahrur’s account, the verse serves as an example clarifying that the object of astonishment is childbirth itself, and that the term husband indicates a transformation in the marital relationship with advancing age.
Axes
- Human and ethical
- Narrative and historical
Related concepts
- Childbirth: 2
- Husband: 2
Its place in the conceptual network
It is linked to the concepts of childbirth and husband within a reading that distinguishes between the biological state and the changing family situation.
The verse’s role in the argument
- Example: 2
Instances of use
- Islam and Faith, p. 180: He uses it to argue that the point of astonishment here is childbirth itself, not merely pregnancy, because the woman is married but biological impediments prevent delivery.
- Concept: Childbirth
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: «{She said, “Woe to me! Shall I bear a child while I am an old woman, and this husband of mine is an old man? This is indeed a strange thing.”} (Hud 72).»
- Toward New Principles for Islamic Jurisprudence, pp. 248-249: He takes Sarah’s statement as an example of the husband becoming a husband in the sense of bual when he grows old and sex is no longer practiced.
- Concept: Husband
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual evidence: «An indication that he became a husband after becoming an old man and no longer having sexual intercourse.»
Related books
This page is presented within the general method of building the atlas.