The author uses «the Book» in a broader sense than the Qur’an, since he makes it the totality of all the verses of the muṣḥaf, or the comprehensive subject that includes the unequivocal and the ambiguous. He needs this distinction in order to establish a separation between legislative constancy and the sphere of moving understanding, thereby making a rational treatment of the text possible without equating all verses.
Referenced by
- Terrorism is the product of a rigid historical reading
- Detail is the domain of human ijtihad
- In the historical apostasy, the religious became mixed with the political, and there is no worldly penalty for it
- The message is the domain of fixed rulings
- The obligation indicates specification and clarification
- The Qur’an is the only revelation
- The Qur’an is the only revelation and is understood within the constancy of the text and the mobility of understanding
- The Book is not the Qur’an in its signification
- The Book, the unequivocal, and the obligation determine the structure of revelation
- The unequivocal represents the Mother of the Book
- Fixed revelation produces fixed rulings and ijtihadi elaboration
- The structure of revelation and disciplined historical interpretation prevent religion from being turned into violence
- Drying up the sources of terrorism requires restoring religion to the Qur’an, freedom, and mercy, and stripping traditional violence of legitimacy
- There is no worldly penalty for the apostate