Intended meaning
For Shahrur, the prophetic Sunna is what is connected to the Muhammadan narrative and the station of prophethood, and to the questions and reports associated with it. It is confined to the Prophet’s time and domain, not as a general legislation or practical model in the sense that applies to the messengerly Sunna.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: Definitional
- Argument movement: It confines the prophetic Sunna to the domain of narrative associated with the Prophet’s time and station.
- Key terms: prophetic Sunna, narrative, station of prophethood.
- Degree of centrality: Central.
This atom confines the prophetic Sunna to the historical domain tied to report and biography, and separates it from general obligation, thereby limiting the expansion of its role as a comprehensive legislative source.
Reading aids
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- Sunna between Messengerhood and Prophethood
- prophetic Sunna
- station of prophethood
- Contemporary Sunna is understood through Qur’anic terms, not inherited sacralization
Basis
- Supporting text: “The prophetic Sunna: what is connected to the Muhammadan narrative and the station of prophethood, and the questions and reports associated with its time and domain.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
- Location: In the first section of the book, within its discussion of prophetic hadiths and their limits.
- Type of basis: Close witness.
- Marker for verification: prophetic Sunna
- Reading note: This passage is suitable because it links the prophetic Sunna to the station of prophethood and to the narrative and what is connected to its time, which 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 wording above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted verbatim.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur depends in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
It helps in constructing the distinction between the messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna.