Meaning
Shahrur holds that injustice is a conscious, intentional act, committed only by one who possesses free will and knows that what they are doing is wrong. Therefore, one deprived of will cannot be described as committing injustice, because injustice, in his view, is bound up with responsible choice.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Argument type: normative.
- Argument movement: Injustice occurs only with a conscious free will.
- Central terms: injustice, freedom, will, responsibility, choice.
- Degree of centrality: central.
The atom links injustice to conscious choice rather than mere error, thereby grounding moral responsibility in freedom and denying the description of injustice to one whose will has been taken away.
Links That Aid Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: State and Society
- Freedom, the Human Being, and Responsibility
- Injustice
- Freedom
- Freedom Governs Human Action between Volition and Will
Supporting Evidence
- Supporting text: “For Shahrur, injustice is not merely a passing error; rather, it is a deliberate, conscious decision made with knowledge of its wrongness. The occurrence of injustice is conditional upon the presence of free will; one deprived of will does not commit injustice. Adam represents the first transition to humanity; therefore, he was the first to be described as committing injustice when he deliberately violated the prohibition concerning the tree.”
Location of Evidence in the Book
- Book: State and Society.
- Location: within the first section of the book, in the explanation of the relationship between will and injustice.
- Type of evidence: close witness.
- Verification aid: free will as an essential condition.
- Reading note: This passage serves as evidence because it explicitly states that injustice occurs only where free will exists.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: compositionally documented.
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on more than one witness or on a clear synthesis of closely related statements.
- Reason for classification: the text explicitly states that free will is a condition for the occurrence of injustice.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted directly.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports, or prepares the way for, a larger conclusion in the chapter.
Related to
Note to the Reader
The atom identifies a moral condition for the occurrence of injustice.