What is meant
Shahrur argues that Islam is valid for every time and place, meaning that its teachings are not tied to a specific historical circumstance and do not lose their validity with the passage of time. This meaning is presented as evidence for the universality of Islam and its continuity across the ages.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: makes the validity of Islam general and continuous across times and places.
- Key terms: Islam, validity, every time, every place.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It establishes the principle of Islam’s comprehensiveness and continuity, and functions as a major premise supporting the contemporary reading and preventing religion from being tied to a single historical circumstance.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Book and the Qur’an
- the methodology of the contemporary reading
- Islam
- Abrogation does not occur within the Muhammadan message, but pertains to the earlier messages
Grounding
- Supporting text: “He maintains that Islam is valid for every time and place.”
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of the reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports, or prepares for, a larger conclusion in the chapter.
Related to
Editorial note
This meaning is directly connected to the reading methodology, because it opens the way to generalization and resists historical confinement.