What is meant here?
What is meant is that the definition of “indecencies” in this passage is not limited to what is outward; the cited text includes both the outward and the inward, and connects them to what sound human nature finds repugnant.
What is attributed to Shahrur
The cited text provides a direct definition of indecencies and links them to sound human nature, explicitly stating that they encompass both the outward and the inward.
Muhammad Shahrur: Umm al-Kitab and Its Elaboration
Atlas explanation
The phrase “encompass both the outward and the inward” is read as denying that the definition is confined to the outward. This explains the meaning of the phrase itself; it does not add examples or applications not mentioned in the cited text.
Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
Limited conclusion
This cited text alone establishes only that the definition is broad enough to include both the outward and the inward; specifying what falls under each requires further evidence.
Open question and limits of the evidence
What exactly is meant by the outward and the inward in this definition? And how does Shahrur explain the relationship between “sound human nature” and detailed rulings? The available cited text does not settle these two questions.
Qur’anic narratives fall within the cognitive dimension, not legislation
Qur’anic narratives fall within the cognitive dimension, not legislation