What is meant here
The claim is that, in the wording attributed to Shahrur, the Mother of the Book functions as a general source not limited to any particular time. The available evidence does not establish the term “cosmic”; this description is therefore used as a qualified explanation, not as a quotation.
What is attributed to Shahrur
The evidence states: “The Mother of the Book is to be the general limiting source valid for every time.”
Elsewhere in his presentation of the structure of the Revelation, he defines the Mother of the Book as the set of precise verses: “He defined the precise verses as the Mother of the Book.”
The atlas’s explanation
The atlas understands the phrase “the general limiting source valid for every time” to mean that the function attributed to the Mother of the Book transcends a specific temporal circumstance. It may therefore be described, by way of explanation rather than quotation, as a general foundation in this structure. This does not establish an additional meaning for the word “cosmic” that the phrase itself does not express.
Qualified conclusion
The two pieces of evidence combine the generality of the source on the one hand with the connection of the Mother of the Book to the precise verses on the other. This is sufficient to establish the atom in a more precise formulation: in Shahrur’s wording, the Mother of the Book is “a general limiting source valid for every time,” while another piece of evidence defines it as the set of precise verses.
Open question and limits of the evidence
This file alone does not explain the detailed mechanism by which “the general limiting source” and “the set of precise verses” are brought together, nor does it establish that “cosmic” is a Shahrurian term. A broader context from the book must be consulted before drawing any further conclusion about this relationship.
Reading links
- Muhammad Shahrur: The 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
- Al-Qasas 88
The Book and the Qur’an · The Qur’an and the Mother of the Book