What Is Meant Here?
This atom is not intended to establish that every inequality among people is just. Rather, it records a preliminary attribution to Shahrur: society needs functional and social degrees in order to endure. The available material does not allow for a more precise determination of what is meant by “degrees.”
What Is Attributed to Shahrur
The editorial summary records that the existence of functional and social degrees is necessary for society’s survival and is not necessarily an injustice. This attribution requires review, because the available evidence is only an editorial summary and does not contain a verbatim statement from him.
Atlas Explanation
From the wording of the summary, the Atlas understands the claim to concern the function of gradation in organizing society, rather than a sweeping judgment that justifies every existing inequality. This explanation is limited by the phrase “not necessarily an injustice” and does not add a criterion for determining which inequalities are just or unjust.
Limited Conclusion
This record alone is insufficient to establish a detailed position on the civil state or those in authority, or to establish how he reasons from the Qur’anic text. These connections require independent evidence from the episode or the books.
Open Question and Limits of the Record
What was the verbatim text in the tenth episode? Did Shahrur specify conditions or safeguards that would prevent the idea of degrees from being used to justify injustice? The available material does not answer this. The Tenth Episode should be reviewed, while retaining the existing links to the two books: The Book and the Qur’an and The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration.