Intended Meaning
The Book defines itself as a study of the fixed foundations of Islam, faith, citizenship, and religious loyalty. It holds that understanding Islam and practicing it begin with the Book of God as the founding text, while setting aside the inherited tradition. This entry also links these foundations to the historical and conceptual precedence of Islam before the specificity of the Muhammadic message.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Argument movement: it makes the Book the reference point for the fixed foundations in religion and citizenship
- Key terms: the Book, Islam, faith, citizenship, religious loyalty.
- Degree of centrality: original.
This atom places the Book in the position of founding reference, not supplementary reference. Through it, Shahrur defines what counts as an established original foundation before entering historical or traditional details.
Links to help reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Islam and Human
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- Islam
- Faith
- Citizenship
Support
- Supporting text: “The passage states that understanding Islam and practicing it require setting aside the inherited tradition and beginning from the Book of God as the founding text. It defines the book’s subject as a study of the fixed foundations of Islam, faith, citizenship, and religious loyalty.”
Place of Support in the Book
- Book: Islam and Human.
- Location: in the final section of the book, within the book summary and definition of its subject.
- Type of support: close witness.
- Marker to aid verification: the fixed foundations of Islam
- Reading note: the location mentions beginning from the Book of God and identifies the fixed foundations of Islam, faith, and citizenship, which directly supports 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 wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is reproduced verbatim.
Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
This is a foundational atom for the book’s place within the entire system.