Thesis Summary
Shahrur links the unity of the text to its Qurayshi linguistic origin, and treats variation in oral transmission as arising from transmission, not from the origin of revelation. He also rejects synonymy, and grants language an epistemic dimension that goes beyond rhetoric alone to the regulation of meaning and understanding.
Foundational Atoms
- The text was revealed in the tongue of Quraysh
- The Arabic tongue is Qurayshi
- The revelation occurred in the Quraysh dialect
- The Quraysh dialect is closer to eloquence
- Pre-Islamic poetry is evidence of an earlier linguistic perfection
- Arabic evolved through accumulation, not by leap
- Revelation developed knowledge, not rhetoric alone
- The aim of revelation was to elevate language to science
- Synonymy is a root cause of confusion in the heritage tradition
Location of Support within the Book
These meanings appear at the beginning of the book, within the discussion of the compilation of the muṣḥaf and the readings, and then in the critique of the traditional conception of language and meaning. The pre-Islamic background also adds that the tongue in which the text was revealed came after a long linguistic history, not from a vacuum.
Limits of the Reading
This formulation brings together closely related linguistic issues in one direction, without attributing to the author more than what the cited atoms state.