Intended Meaning
For Shahrur, the Mother of the Book is the domain of commands, prohibitions, limits, injunctions, and rites that regulate human conduct. He distinguishes it from the Qur’an, which is concerned with objective laws and existential realities; thus, the Mother of the Book is not to be understood as a description of existence, but as behavioral legislation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Argument movement: defines the Mother of the Book as the domain of guided conduct
- Key terms: Mother of the Book, commands and prohibitions, limits, injunctions, human conduct.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom places the Mother of the Book at the center of behavioral organization, not in the description of existence. Its function here is to serve as the vessel for the commands and prohibitions that regulate human movement within the Qur’anic system.
Links That Help Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Book and the Qur’an
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- Mother of the Book
- The Qur’an and the Mother of the Book
Grounding
- Supporting text: “He affirms that the Qur’an is concerned with objective laws and existential realities, whereas the Mother of the Book is concerned with the commands and prohibitions related to human conduct.”
Degree of Documentation
- Level: structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on more than one witness or on a clear combination of closely related expressions.
- Reason for classification: two direct witnesses specify the Mother of the Book in relation to behavioral commands and prohibitions.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and is not to be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
The determination here is functional before it is descriptive.