What Does the Witness Attribute to Shahrur?
The witness states: “He affirms that the civil state is founded on pluralism, rights, freedoms, and the state’s non-interference in individual choices, together with the separation of rituals from the state.” The witness also maintains that “human values, not rituals, are the basis of the state and society, and that the duty of the state is to protect, educate, and prepare the human being, and to guarantee his or her rights.”
Atlas Explanation
This claim atom records interrelated elements in the presentation: rights and freedoms, non-interference in individual choices, the separation of rituals from the state, and the protection of the human being. The atlas interprets non-interference in individual choices as meaning that the state’s function is not to impose a single pattern upon people. Thus, “is founded on” does not merely mean mentioning rights among the attributes of the state; rather, it presents them as part of its very constitution and function, as formulated by the witness.
For reading in the broader context: Muhammad Shahrur: State and Society, The Civil State, Religion, and Authority, The Civil State, The People and the State Translate Plurality within a Political Unity.
Synthetic Inference
The witness combines non-interference in individual choices with the protection of the human being and his or her rights; accordingly, the atlas reads these elements as specifying the function of the state in this context. This is an inference drawn from combining the statements contained in the witness, not an independent constitutional elaboration offered by the text here.
Open Question and Limit of the Evidence
The witness does not clarify the legal or constitutional mechanisms that regulate the state’s non-interference in individual choices, nor does it specify in detail the practical meaning of separating rituals from the state. Moreover, the witness’s wording is assertive (“he affirms that”); thus, the attribution to Shahrur is retained within its limits and is not transformed into an undocumented comprehensive definition.