Thesis Summary
Shahrur distinguishes between the study of history and society and the study of nature. Natural phenomena allow a higher degree of control and prediction, whereas human consciousness, freedom, and responsibility intervene in history; therefore, the method of the natural sciences cannot simply be transferred to it as it stands.
Accordingly, the rejection of historical determinism is not merely a value-based stance, but a methodological principle: history is a field of possibilities, interpretation, and planning from the present, not a field of rigid programming or exact prediction in accordance with the laws of nature.
Foundational Atoms
- Human history is not subject to determinism
- History resists programming
- The historical sunna is linked to human freedom
- The future unseen is not known with certainty
- Human beings’ function is to plan from the present
Place of Support within the Book
This meaning appears in the final section of al-Qasas al-Qur’ani vol. 2, where the author discusses becoming, process, history, determinism, and human freedom.
Limits of the Reading
This structure does not deny the existence of historical laws, but it prevents understanding those laws as closed natural laws. Here, laws operate within the field of human action, where conditions and possibilities change as consciousness and choice change.