The Intended Meaning
Shahrur argues that the development of human societies passes through three successive historical stages: the age of motherhood, then the age of fatherhood or villages, then the age of equality in civil states These stages represent a Qur’anic historical reading of the course of human social life
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: historical
- Argument movement: it divides the development of society into three successive stages that culminate in civil states.
- Central terms: three stages, the age of motherhood, the age of fatherhood, the age of equality, civil states.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom maps Shahrur’s chart of social history, linking the transition of societies to the transformation of kinship and political structures, culminating in the form of civil equality.
Links to help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The State and Society
- History, Development, and Laws
- Monism and despotism lead to ruin
Basis
- Supporting text: “It presents a Qur’anic historical reading of the development of societies through three stages: the age of motherhood, then the age of fatherhood/villages, then the age of equality/civil states.”
Location of the Basis in the Book
- Book: The State and Society.
- Location: at the beginning of the book, within the historical overview of the development of societies.
- Type of basis: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: three stages
- Reading note: This location is suitable as evidence because it places social development in successive historical stages, and it is close to the atom.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial Note
The treatment here is structural because it defines the entire ladder of historical transition.