Intended meaning
Here, “what the right hand possesses” is intended as a comprehensive term for contractual relationships among free persons, not a slave relationship in the traditional sense It refers to forms of association and legal organization in different fields
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: “What the right hand possesses” is understood as contractual relationships among free persons.
- Key terms: what the right hand possesses, contract, free persons, organization.
- Degree of centrality: central.
The atom redefines the concept as an organizational relationship rather than a relationship of ownership, linking it to contract and commitment instead of traditional slavery.
Reading aids
Basis
- Supporting text: “a comprehensive term for contractual relationships among free persons in various fields”.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the formulation of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the above wording is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it sets a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Editorial note
I keep the focus on the contract rather than on its detailed form.