Intended meaning
Shahrur holds that the Muhammadan message is final and universal because it came in an abstract, boundary-based form. This form allows renewed human ijtihad, so long as that ijtihad remains within its boundaries.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: Value-based
- Movement of the argument: It describes the Muhammadan message as final, universal, and open to ijtihad within its boundaries.
- Key terms: the Muhammadan message, finality, universality, boundary-based, ijtihad.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It combines the comprehensiveness of the message with its delimitation by boundaries, thus presenting a framework that balances stability and renewal in understanding religion and legislation.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- The Muhammadan message
Grounding
- Supporting text: «The Muhammadan message is final and universal because it came in an abstract, boundary-based form that allows renewed human ijtihad within its boundaries».
Place of the grounding in the book
- Book: The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration.
- Location: in the final section of the book
- Type of grounding: near witness.
- Verification cue: the universality and finality of the Muhammadan message
- Reading note: the passage links the message’s universality to its finality and to ijtihad within its boundaries, which makes it a suitable basis for the atom.
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 reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited word for word.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares the way for it.
Editorial note
It is preferable to show that universality here does not mean abolishing boundaries, but rather regulating ijtihad within them.