Thesis Summary

Shahrur holds that the Qur’an is a renewed reference, and that understanding it requires a contemporary reading and open ijtihad. The authority of the text does not mean freezing interpretation; rather, it calls for new tools of reading, while keeping human ijtihad within the Qur’anic framework.

Foundational Atoms

Place of Reliance within the Book

These ideas appear in the first section of the book, in his discussion of years of study, tools of understanding, and contemporary reading.

Limits of the Reading

This summary brings together more than one nearby passage, but it does not go beyond what is supported by the atoms listed here.