Intended Meaning
Shahrur sees that Abraham and Ishmael were not the builders of the Kaaba, but rather came to purify and cleanse it. Therefore, their role here is reformative, indicating that the House existed before and then had its purity restored and its standing elevated.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: interpretive
- Movement of the argument: it makes Abraham’s role one of purifying the House, not founding it.
- Key terms: Abraham, Ishmael, the House, purification, building.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom rearranges the traditional scene surrounding the House, making the work attributed to Abraham a reformative act, not a foundational one, and this is a difference that is easy to understand and important in the reading.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, the State and Society
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- The story of Moses and the righteous servant symbolizes the conflict between knowledge and law
Reliance
- Supporting text: “and that Abraham and Ishmael came to purify it, not to build it.”
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of the reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows in the course of the argument depends.
Related to
Editorial Note
The atom redistributes roles within the Qur’anic narrative.