Intended meaning
Shahrur holds that the default in things is permissibility, not prohibition. For him, prohibition applies to acts, not to the essences of things themselves, while some prohibitions remain fixed by explicit textual wording.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: it states that permissibility is the default and prohibition is the exception.
- Key terms: default, permissibility, prohibition, acts.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It shifts the center of attention from forbiddance to permission, making prohibition a specific exceptional case, and prevents uncontrolled expansion in issuing rulings about things.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Prohibition
- The default in things is permissibility and prohibition applies to acts
Basis
- Supporting text: “He states that the default in things is permissibility, and that prohibition and exception relate to acts, not to the essences of things, while some prohibitions remain by explicit wording.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: The Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2.
- Location: within the opening sections of the book in the discussion of permissibility and prohibition
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Marker that helps verification: permissibility is the default in things
- Reading note: this location is suitable as evidence because it states that permissibility and prohibition concern acts, and that permissibility is the default in things.
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 wording above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial note
This atom establishes a general rule for reading what is prohibited and what is permitted.