The Intended Meaning
The Qur’anic stories present themselves as a record of the development of human history and the revelations, not merely as mythical tales or ready-made models for repetition. They link the human trajectory to the gradual unfolding of the revelations across history, not to isolated events or stories for entertainment. Accordingly, the stories here are understood as a tool for knowing the movement of human consciousness and the transformation of religious discourse.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: historical
- Argument movement: the Qur’anic stories record the development of human history and the revelations.
- Central terms: the Qur’anic stories, development of the revelations, human history, consciousness.
- Degree of centrality: original.
The atom makes the Qur’anic stories a record of the movement of the revelations and the gradation of consciousness, not merely a tale. It thereby links narrative to historical knowledge and establishes an evolutionary understanding of religious discourse.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Qur’anic Stories Vol. 2
- History, Development, and Sunnas
- The Qur’anic Stories
- The Wise Revelation Reads the Stories Critically to Establish Coexistence and Freedom
Grounding
- Supporting text: «The Qur’anic stories present themselves as a record of the development of human history and the revelations, not merely as mythical tales or ready-made models for repetition».
Place of Grounding in the Book
- Book: The Qur’anic Stories Vol. 2.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of grounding: close evidence.
- Verification cue: development of the revelations and prophethood
- Reading note: the passage explicitly states that the Qur’anic stories are the course of history and the development of the revelations, which is almost direct support for the atom.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests 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 cited textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
The atom grants the stories a cognitive-historical function.