Meaning
This excerpt does not treat slavery as a fixed system; rather, it describes it as a historical system of coercion and enslavement, and mentions its abolition as a direction in Shahrur’s reading. By contrast, it describes “those whom your right hands possess” as a transitional alternative based on a contract between free persons.
What Is Attributed to Shahrur in the Excerpt
The excerpt states: “Those whom your right hands possess: a transitional alternative to slavery, based on a contract between free persons. Slavery: a historical system of coercion and enslavement; Shahrur holds that the Wise Revelation established a mechanism for its abolition.” Thus, this passage establishes three interrelated descriptions: the historical character of slavery, its basis in coercion and enslavement, and the characterization of those whom your right hands possess as a contractual transitional alternative.
Atlas Explanation
The distinction between the two terms is important in this excerpt: slavery is described as a relation of coercion and enslavement, whereas “those whom your right hands possess” is described as a contractual relation between free persons. They are therefore not treated here as synonymous, even though the latter appears as “a transitional alternative to slavery.”
Synthetic Inference
The excerpt brings together abolition, transition, and contract; accordingly, the atlas may read it as a conception of a transition from a relation of coercion to a contractual relation. This is a synthetic reading based on the wording of the excerpt, not a verbatim quotation from it.
Open Question and Limits of the Excerpt
This excerpt does not explain the details of the “mechanism” of abolition that it attributes to the Wise Revelation, nor does it mention equality directly. Moreover, the phrase “subject to dismantling” is an interpretive title supplied by the atlas and is not among the words of the quotation; more precisely, this page should retain what is stated: a historical system and a mechanism for its abolition.