What is meant
Shahrur argues that traditional obedience to those in authority and allegiance, as formulated in the transmitted reports, were used to justify authoritarianism, not to regulate or prevent it. Therefore, in this context, they support authoritarian thought and give it a religious cover.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: Critical
- Movement of the argument: It links traditional allegiance and obedience to the justification of authoritarianism.
- Key terms: allegiance, obedience, authoritarianism, transmitted reports.
- Degree of centrality: Central.
This atom prompts the reader to reconsider the traditional conception of authority, because when obedience turns into a religious cover, it becomes a tool for entrenching coercion rather than resisting it.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: Religion and Authority
- Critique of Authoritarianism and Monism
- Jurisprudence is historical, and civil law is separate from it
Basis
- Supporting text: “Traditional obedience to those in authority and allegiance, as they were formulated in the transmitted reports, were used to justify authoritarianism.”
Degree of documentation
- Level: Structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: The atom relies on more than one piece of evidence, or on a clear composition of closely related phrases.
- Reason for classification: The evidence links traditional allegiance and obedience to the justification of authoritarianism.
- Limits of reading: The formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the evidence is quoted verbatim.
Its function in the book
Its function here is oppositional; it responds to a common understanding or overturns an inherited reading in this passage.
Related to
Editorial note
The atom criticizes the use of the concept, not the original political organization.