Intended Meaning
Shahrur sees worship as not confined to ritual acts alone; rather, it encompasses all aspects of free, productive life. He also expands the meaning of “for the sake of God” to match this understanding and makes it linked to human action in the various domains of life.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: worship includes human free, productive life, not rituals alone.
- Key terms: worship, life, free, productive, for the sake of God.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom expands the meaning of worship to include human action in public life. In this way, it links religiosity to production and responsibility rather than to ritual practice alone.
Reading Aids
Basis
- Supporting text: “He expands the concept of worship and ‘for the sake of God’ to include all aspects of free, productive life.”
Basis in the Book
- Book: Draining the Sources of Terrorism.
- Location: at the beginning of the book within the treatment of the meaning of striking in the way of God
- Type of basis: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: hurrying along in travel
- Reading note: the passage broadens the religious sense of the phrase from armed jihad to travel and the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and it is close to expanding worship to include the domains of life.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of level: 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 should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Editorial Note
This atom is suitable for building a link between faith and righteous action.