Intended Meaning
Shahrur sees “al-shahid” as one of God’s names, not a description of the dead. He places this name within his understanding of God’s names, attributes, and testimony over existence.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Argument movement: he counts al-shahid as a divine name, not a description of the dead.
- Key terms: al-shahid, God’s names, the dead, testimony.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It regulates the use of the term al-shahid within the doctrinal field, preventing its direct transfer to the meaning of the dead person and linking it to God’s names and attributes.
Links That Help Reading
Grounding
- Supporting text: “Shahrur links this distinction to an understanding of God’s names and attributes.”
Place of the Grounding in the Book
- Book: Islam and Faith.
- Location: at the beginning of the book, within the discussion of God’s names and attributes
- Type of grounding: nearby witness.
- Verification clue: bigger than to be followed by his verses names’ mood
- Reading note: the passage is suitable because it sits alongside discussion of God’s name with the doctrinal correction of how terms are understood, which supports linking the atom to an understanding of God’s names and attributes.
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 is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it regulates a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Links
Editorial Note
The point is to correct usage, not to narrow it.