What is meant
Muhammad Shahrur states that the center of Islam is the Word of God in the Qur’an, not the sayings of the Prophet and the Companions as sacred texts Rather, he sees those sayings as historical documents that do not reach the status of the Qur’an in authority
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: it defines the center of Islam by the Qur’an alone, apart from other transmitted reports.
- Key terms: Islam, the Word of God, the Qur’an, authority.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It rearranges the center of religion around the Qur’anic text, and gives human reports a lower place in the hierarchy of legal argument and religious knowledge.
Reading aids
- Muhammad Shahrur Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- the Book and the Qur’an and the Mother of the Book
- Islam
- the Qur’an
- Inherited jurisprudence is a human historical construction that does not possess authority equal to the Qur’an
Support
- Supporting text: “He affirms that the center of Islam is the Word of God in the Qur’an, not the sayings of the Prophet and the Companions as sacred texts; rather, he sees them as historical documents.”
Where the support appears in the book
- Book: The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought.
- Location: in the first section of the book, within the redefinition of the center of reading.
- Type of support: close evidence.
- Verification marker: Islam which is God and the Wise Revelation
- Reading note: this passage works as support because it places the center in Islam and the Wise Revelation and makes the sayings of the Messenger historical, non-binding documents.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Reading limits: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
This atom repeats the previous central meaning, but in a more direct formulation under the heading of authority.