Intended Meaning
Myth is a symbolic story with sacred significance; it rests on a true idea but is cast in an imaginative form It does not convey reality directly, but presents it through a symbol and a narrative that bring together truthful meaning and imagination
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: myth is defined as a symbol that combines truth and imagination.
- Key terms: myth, symbol, truth, imagination.
- Degree of centrality: central.
Stories provide a non-literal semantic frame, making myth a way of representing sacred meaning through an image that combines the real and the imagined.
Links That Help with Reading
Basis
- Supporting text: «Myth: a symbolic story with sacred significance, bringing together a true idea and an imaginative formulation».
Basis in the Book
- Book: The Qur’anic Stories Vol. 2.
- Location: in the final section of the book, in the discussion of the concept of myth.
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Verification cue: an essential true idea
- Reading note: this location works as support because it links myth to a true idea and an imaginative formulation, and it is very close to the atom’s wording.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Reading limits: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted 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.
Editorial Note
An important atom for understanding the symbolic reading of the Qur’anic stories.