Meaning
Shahrur holds that the decisive verses concerning prohibitions belong to the Mother of the Book, because they constitute the clear legislative foundation. The verses of elaboration then follow in order to explain and clarify these prohibitions.
Structure of the atom in the atlas
- Type of argument: definitional.
- Movement of the argument: It makes the verses of the Mother of the Book the basis of prohibitions, and the verses of elaboration an explanation of them.
- Central terms: the Mother of the Book, prohibitions, verses of elaboration.
- Degree of centrality: central.
The atom explains the internal structure of legislation in the author’s thought: it orders foundation and exposition in a way that grants the decisive text the status of reference and makes elaboration subordinate rather than independent.
Links to aid reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- the Mother of the Book
- Qur’anic narratives fall within the cognitive dimension rather than legislation
Evidence
- Supporting text: “Shahrur bases his position on the idea that the decisive verses concerning prohibitions are part of the ‘Mother of the Book,’ and that the verses of elaboration come to explain and clarify them.”
Location of the evidence in the book
- Book: The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration.
- Location: in the opening sections of the book, in its discussion of the ordering of the verses of the Wise Revelation.
- Type of evidence: closely related textual evidence.
- Verification aid: verses of the Wise Revelation.
- Reading note: This passage is suitable evidence because it concerns the decisive and ambiguous verses, and how verses are ordered and explained.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented.
- Meaning of the level: The atom rests on an explicit textual witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: The wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is reproduced textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional: it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in constructing the idea.
Related to
Note to the reader
Read this alongside the atoms that distinguish between the fixed and the variable.