This axis brings together 4 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.
Text of the Verse as Cited
Until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and has beautified itself, and its people think that they have power over it, Our command comes to it by night or by day, and We make it stubble, as though it had not flourished the day before. Thus We set out the signs in detail for a people who reflect.
Reader’s Answer
Question
How does Muhammad Shahrur employ Yunus 24 in his discussion of the development of society and knowledge?
Shahrur employs the verse in the context of his discussion of the acceleration of human knowledge and the transformation of society: for him, the earth’s attaining its “adornment” is associated with scientific and cognitive progress that may lead human beings to imagine that they possess absolute power, or to imagine themselves divine. He then links this passage to the coming of the Hour. Thus, his use of the verse is not merely a general description of the “arrogance of power,” but part of a construction that connects cognitive development, the changing pattern of life, and a final limit that he sees the verse as expressing.
Shahrur places the verse after discussing how the development of human knowledge entails a change in the pattern of life and an acceleration of change and thought. He understands the attainment of this development as a state in which “a human being may think that he has become a god,” then cites Yunus 24 and says: “At that point, the Hour will come.”
Citation and Location
The State and Society — p. 215.
Limits of the Reading
- This presentation is limited to the documented citation in The State and Society, p. 215, and does not attribute to Shahrur a comprehensive interpretation of the verse outside this context.
- The phrase “the law of civilizational change” is broader than the cited text; the citation discusses the development of knowledge, changes in the pattern of life, the human illusion of divinity, and the connection of this to the coming of the Hour.
- The other attached citations cannot support this direct reading of the verse: the citation from Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence cites the verse in a discussion of the concept of adornment, while the citations from The Book and the Qur’an are unrelated to the verse or to this use.
Continue from Here
Brief Reading
Shahrur uses the verse as an example of the arrogance of power when society reaches the height of adornment and then thinks it has attained perfection.
Axes
- Political and social
- Human and ethical
- Linguistic and semantic
Related Concepts
- Adornment: 3
- The end of unipolarity: 2
- The coming of the Hour: 2
Its Place in the Conceptual Network
It is connected to the law of civilizational change and to the idea of adornment as that which people find pleasing.
Role of the Verse in the Argument
- Support: 2
- Example: 2
Instances of Use
- The State and Society, p. 215: He cites the verse to clarify that a society’s attainment of the height of power and knowledge may precede collapse if its people imagine that they possess absolute power, thereby linking it to the law of civilizational change.
- Concept: The end of unipolarity
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “{… And its people think that they have power over it; Our command comes to it …} (Yunus 24).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 326: He uses it as an example of the moment of human delusion, when human beings think they have attained complete power and then the divine command comes.
- Concept: The coming of the Hour
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: “{.. Until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and has beautified itself, and its people think that they have power over it, Our command comes to it by night or by day..} (Yunus 24).”
- The Book and the Qur’an, p. 498: He uses it to clarify that adornment, for him, means what people desire and find pleasing, rather than merely its narrow sensory meaning.
- Concept: Adornment
- Function of the verse here: Support
- Textual citation: “As in His saying, exalted is He: {.. Until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and has beautified itself}. (Yunus 24)”
- Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence, p. 290: He cites it to support the idea of cosmic/spatial adornment and that adornment is not merely jewelry and clothing.
- Concept: Adornment
- Function of the verse here: Example
- Textual citation: “{ Until, when the earth has taken on its adornment and has beautified itself } (Yunus 34)”
Related Books
This page is presented within the general atlas construction methodology.