At Shahrur, the Qur’an is structurally reclassified into muhkam and mutashabih, and into Book, Message, and Prophethood. This classification is the basis of his method for deriving rulings and linking them to elaboration and ijtihad.
- The adultery verse targets public indecency
- Obedience to the Messenger has two forms
- Prayer as a relation differs from ritual observance
- Penalties are legal limits open to regulation
- Qur’anic legislation requires contextual elaboration
- Retaliation is within the jurisdiction of the civil system
- The straight path means free moral commitment
- The theft verse means deterrence, not amputation
- Worship is voluntary submission to God
- The Mother of the Book verses explain the forbidden matters
- The elaboration verses construct the rulings of the Message
- The elaboration verses make the prohibitions clear
- The elaboration verses explain the prohibitions
- Consuming wealth unjustly includes bribery
- The Mother of the Book is the foundation of the Muhammadan Message
- The Mother of the Book establishes a limit-based, civil legislation that constrains prohibition and liberates ijtihad
- The Mother of the Book is the muhkam verses
- The Mother of the Book and its elaboration present a project for rebuilding the understanding of the Qur’an, religion, and legislation on contemporary foundations
- Reclassifying the Book and the Mother of the Book organizes the structure and functions of the Qur’anic text
- The detailed rulings are open to practical ijtihad
- The rulings have a divine and a human dimension
- Terror means legitimate deterrence
- Ijtihad in elaborating the muhkam verses
- Ijtihad concerns the muhkam verses
- Attention to the semantic dimension of texts
- Rational interpretation turns the unseen into knowledge consistent with reality
- Rational interpretation rebuilds the unseen and religion on the basis of freedom and knowledge
- Interpretation has frozen intellectual movement
- Interpretation is specific to the mutashabih
- Interpretation is the cause of disagreement
- Interpretation pertains to the mutashabihat
- Liberation from inherited jurisprudence
- Restricted divine prohibition negates the Messenger’s independent legislative authority
- Prohibition is a purely divine prerogative
- Prohibition in Islam → restricted
- Synonymy is a root cause of the traditional conflation
- Limit-based legislation makes application variable within the constants of the Mother of the Book
- Contemporary civil legislation
- Legislation changes with the change of society
- Legislation responds to changing reality
- Elaboration is based on a methodological distinction
- Distinguishing between the muhkam and elaboration
- Distinguishing between the muhkam and the mutashabih distributes ijtihad and interpretation methodologically
- The Wise Revelation is a living, interactive text
- The Wise Revelation is a living text that requires a contemporary reading beyond traditional rigidity
- The Revelation is a stage of knowledge, not merely of eloquence
- Traditional rigidity is the cause of marginalization
- Jihad is broader than fighting
- The forbidden is limited to what God has forbidden
- Report is linked to presence and witnessing
- Wine and gambling are objects of prohibition, not of absolute prohibition
- Religion is a free relationship with God that distinguishes between the historical Message and value-based commitment
- Usury is forbidden because it harms the debtor
- The Muhammadan Message is limit-based and universal
- The Messenger is a conveyor, not a lawgiver
- Zakat is a social distributive duty
- Associating others with God is the first of the prohibitions
- Ritual observances fall under elaboration
- Qur’anic penalties are civil limits open to regulation, not fixed bodily punishments
- Indecency includes both outward and inward aspects
- Heritage fiqh is not contemporary legislation
- Inherited fiqh is not suitable for the present
- Understanding changes according to the problem posed
- Legitimate fighting repels aggression
- Euthanasia differs from suicide
- The Qur’an is structurally reclassified
- The contemporary reading dismantles the traditional intermediary layer
- The contemporary reading requires a new hermeneutic method that goes beyond traditional exegesis
- Methodical reading of the text gathers the verses and rearranges elaboration around interpretation
- Qur’anic narratives are for lesson, not legislation
- Qur’anic narratives belong to the cognitive dimension, not to legislation
- The Book and the Qur’an are distinct
- The Qurayshi idiom and the reclassification of the Book establish a precise semantic structure for the text
- The Qurayshi idiom and the unity of the text support a non-synonymous linguistic project of knowledge
- The muhkam does not admit ijtihad
- The muhkam and the mutashabih each have their own elaboration
- The muhkam verses do not admit ijtihad
- The recognized and the rejected vary socially
- The report becomes news through interpretation
- The report pertains to the unseen
- The revelation came down in the Quraysh dialect
- The text was revealed in the language of Quraysh
- Revelation does not contradict reason and reality
- The traditional classificatory scheme has become inflated
- Elaborating the muhkam is the field of ijtihad
- Collecting the verses to understand the muhkam
- Restricting the prohibited protects against manipulation
- Disobedience to parents is forbidden
- The traditional Qur’anic sciences arose historically and then became conflated under the dominance of exegesis
- The aim of the Revelation is to elevate language to science
- Killing children for fear of destitution is forbidden
- Killing children for fear of poverty
- Killing oneself is forbidden except by right
- The Arabic tongue is Qurayshi in character
- Women’s dress is a matter of custom
- The Quraysh dialect is closer to eloquence
- The orphan’s property may only be approached in the best manner
- The Qur’anic sciences emerged historically
- The dominance of the science of exegesis