Intended Meaning
Here, the Mother of the Book is the set of fixed, definitive principles on which the Muhammadan message is built. It represents its stable foundation, whereas ijtihad lies in its details, not in its foundation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Argument movement: presents the Mother of the Book as the foundation of the Muhammadan message and the source of its stability.
- Key terms: Mother of the Book, Muhammadan message, definitive principles.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom frames the message as grounded in a fixed foundation, and understands ijtihad as work carried out within that foundation, not above it, which defines the limits of interpretive movement.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Mother of the Book and Its Details
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- The Mother of the Book
- The Muhammadan Message
- Religion is a free relationship with God that distinguishes between the historical message and ethical commitment
Basis
- Supporting text: “The Muhammadan message is built on the ‘Mother of the Book’ as a set of fixed, definitive principles.”
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Level meaning: the atom relies on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted word for word.
Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a conclusion on which what follows in the argument depends.
Related to
Editorial Note
This is an important structural atom for understanding the relation between foundation and detail.