Intended Meaning
Shahrur here adopts the method of interpreting the Qur’an by the Qur’an, that is, the meaning of a verse is understood by referring to other verses within it, not to anything outside the text In this way, the Qur’an becomes the primary reference for explaining its meanings and determining its significations
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Argument move: making the Qur’an the reference for interpreting itself.
- Central terms: the Qur’an, interpretation, verses, reference, significance.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
It establishes the principle of reading from within rather than from outside, because one verse is understood through another verse, so the text itself takes precedence over inherited tradition and later interpretation as the original source of clarification.
Links That Help with Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Islam and Human
- the contemporary reading method
- the Qur’an
- Islam precedes the specificity of the Muhammadan message historically and conceptually
Basis
- Supporting text: “Interpretation of the Qur’an by the Qur’an.”
Place of the Basis in the Book
- Book: Islam and Human.
- Location: in the final section of the book, within the explanation of the method of understanding the texts through one another.
- Type of basis: close attestation.
- Verification marker: interpreting the Qur’an by the Qur’an
- Reading note: the passage names the method and explains that it relies on interpreting the texts of the Book through one another, which directly matches the atom.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests 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 methodological; it governs the reading or inferential method followed by the book.
Related to
Editorial Note
This is one of the atoms that underpins his general interpretive method.