Concept Center: Prophethood

This page gathers the main pathways related to the concept of “prophethood” within the atlas: the shared entry, the lexicon, its occurrences in the books, the verses, the relations, and the nearby claims.

Direct answer

The concept of prophethood revolves around distinguishing between the station of prophethood and the station of messengership. The station of messengership is concerned with legislation and organization, while prophethood is connected to the unseen, tidings, and knowledge, with the affirmation that the prophet does not know the unseen. From this distinction branch the reading of the Sunna, the limits of obedience, and the differentiation between authority and knowledge.

Concept keys

• The station of prophethood is concerned with the unseen, tidings, and knowledge.
• The station of messengership is concerned with legislation and organization.
• The Sunna is divided according to the station into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna.
• The prophet does not know the unseen.
• Distinguishing between the messenger and the prophet redefines the limits of authority and revelation.

Where does the trace begin?

• Prophethood
• The station of prophethood is concerned with the unseen, tidings, and knowledge
• The station of messengership is concerned with legislation and organization
• The Sunna is divided according to the station into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna
• The prophet does not know the unseen

Shared entry

• The trace begins with distinguishing between the station of prophethood and the station of messengership, and with the effect of this distinction on understanding the Sunna, authority, and knowledge.

Lexicon

• Prophethood

Occurrence in the books

• Prophethood

Related verses

• Al-Baqara 260
• At-Tawba 111
• At-Tawba 117
• Al-Hijr 49
• Ar-Rahman 1-4
• Maryam 29
• Maryam 30
• Maryam 49
• Maryam 51
• Maryam 54
• Hud 121
• Hud 46

Conceptual relations

• Umm al-Kitab means the set of decisive verses
• The Sunna is divided according to the station into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna
• The Book differs from the Qur’an
• The station of messengership is concerned with legislation and organization
• The station of messengership is concerned with legislation and organization, and the station of prophethood
• The station of prophethood is concerned with the unseen, tidings, and knowledge

Nearby claims

• Witness-bearing continues after the sealing of prophethood
• Scientific witness-bearing supports messengership
• The prophet does not know the unseen
• Shahrur’s reconstruction of Qur’anic concepts makes them epistemic and human
• Distinguishing between the messenger and the prophet redefines the limits of authority and revelation
• Shahrur’s concepts of disbelief, associating partners, and witness-bearing are epistemic, not combat-related
• The prophet’s daily actions are not binding Sunna
• The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna
• The prophetic Sunna and the domain of narratives
• Prophetic obedience is historical and limited
• The station of prophethood and the station of messengership
• The station of prophethood guides social organization
• The prophetic Sunna, political history, and hadith are a human domain open to critique
• The messengerly Sunna is binding because it is connected to messengership and legislation
• The prophetic Sunna is historical and circumstantial and is not followed as permanent legislation
• The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic according to the station
• Prophethood, for Shahrur, is a historical function in organization, ijtihad, and state-building
• Legislation differs from narrative
• The sealing of messengership announces the attainment of maturity
• The sealing of messengership is completed with humanity’s attainment of maturity
• The distinction between prophethood and messengership
• The Seven Oft-Repeated are part of prophethood
• Satan turns truth into illusion
• Prophethood is the domain of objective facts
• The conclusion of the project defines its major axes
• Revelation-as-sending-down and revelation-as-downloading determine how the Qur’an appears in consciousness and history
• The terminological structure of the text establishes the internal distinction within revelation
• Satan distorts perception between illusion and truth
• The Qur’an was made Arabic and then sent down
• The Book includes internal sections