What Is Meant Here?
This statement does not present “those in command” as persons who must be obeyed in themselves. Rather, it defines them as the legislative authority and confines the object of obedience to the legislation it issues.
What Is Attributed to Shahrur
The direct witness states: “Those in command: the legislative authority whose legislation is obeyed, not their persons.”
Elsewhere in the book, Shahrur criticizes what he describes as the transformation of the various forms of obedience into “permanent obedience to those in command on the grounds that it is obedience to God,” linking this to the formation of a conception that makes the ruler God’s representative on earth. This is a critical context supporting the rejection of personalizing obedience, but it is not a substitute for the direct definition.
Atlas Explanation
The decisive distinction in the statement is between legislation and persons: in this definition, legislation is the object of obedience, not the holder of authority as an individual. The atom should therefore be read as specifying the object of obedience, rather than affirming absolute personal obedience.
For further reading: Those in command, State and religion, Critique of authoritarianism and monism.
Synthetic Conclusion
This definition can be read together with Shahrur’s critique of permanent obedience to those in command as shifting the center of gravity from the person of the ruler to what is legislatively issued. This is an inference from reading the two statements together, not a detailed description of a particular constitutional system.
Open Question and Limits of the Evidence
The witness alone does not explain how the legislative authority is formed, nor the mechanisms for enacting, reviewing, or objecting to legislation. Nor does the description of commitment as “constitutional” appear in the witness, so it should not be attributed to him without further evidence.
The atom is connected to the context of the book: State and Society, and to the structural page The people and the state translate plurality within a political unity.