What is Meant
The author sees divine legislation as setting the general framework and the major rules, and as not dealing with the details of particulars. These details are left to human legislation to shape according to people’s needs and circumstances. In this way, revelation becomes a guide to the basic lines, not a substitute for human interpretation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: Distinctive
- Movement of the argument: It makes divine law into general lines and leaves the details to human legislation.
- Central terms: divine law, general lines, details, human legislation.
- Degree of centrality: Primary.
This atom distinguishes between the function of revelation and the function of ijtihad, making the founding text a guide to the major lines and leaving the details to people according to their needs.
Links that Help with Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: State and Society
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Singularity is a Divine Property, Not a Human Model
Grounding
- Supporting text: “Divine legislation drew the broad outlines and left the details to human legislation.”
Location of the Grounding in the Book
- Book: State and Society.
- Location: In the early parts of the book, in the discussion of the lines of the civil state.
- Type of grounding: Close witness.
- Marker that helps verification: broad outlines
- Reading note: This passage is suitable as evidence because it states that the broad outlines are set for building civil societies, while the rest is left to human organization.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: Directly documented
- Meaning of the level: The atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of the reading: The formulation 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 argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares the ground for it.
Related to
Editorial Note
It is among the foundational atoms for the idea of complementarity between revelation and ijtihad.