Intended Meaning
The Muhammadan legislation here is understood as a human ijtihad established to regulate a specific community in a particular historical context Therefore, it is bound to its time and its social domain, not as an absolute formulation outside history
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: Historical
- Argument movement: It considers Muhammadan legislation a historical ijtihad tied to its context.
- Key terms: Muhammadan legislation, ijtihad, history, society.
- Degree of centrality: Central.
This atom attributes Muhammadan legislation to its historical and social context, and prevents generalizing it beyond its circumstances as an absolute formulation for all times.
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Basis
- Supporting text: “Muhammadan legislation as a human ijtihad for regulating a specific community”.
The Basis’s Location in the Book
- Book: State and Society.
- Location: In the final section of the book within the discussion of shura and the historicity of application
- Type of basis: A composite of close passages.
- Verification marker: Through the historical structure, not from outside it
- Reading note: The passage explains the practice of shura according to the historical structure of each era, and this supports the idea that legislation is tied to its historical context rather than a rigid form.
Documentation Level
- 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 cited word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Editorial note
It helps distinguish between the message and the contexts of social organization.