What Is Meant Here
This does not mean that every difference amounts to shūrā; rather, shūrā loses one of its foundations if the opposing opinion is absent or if freedom of expression among differing opinions is impaired. The atom contains an explicit formulation attributed to Shahrur, according to which acceptance of pluralism is the basis of sound shūrā, but its raw location is unavailable in the material provided here.
What Is Attributed to Shahrur
Shahrur says: “Shūrā is the practice of freedom by a group of people within a cognitive, ethical, aesthetic, customary frame of reference.” He then specifies that “the first foundations of shūrā are freedom to express an opinion, with the presence of opinion and counter-opinion, and equality in freedom of expression among differing opinions.”
He thus links shūrā to freedom of expression and to the actual plurality of opinions, and also states that shūrā “takes successive historical forms and is subject to historical development according to the structure of the historical society and the cognitive ground on which this shūrā is practiced.”
Atlas Explanation
In this atom, pluralism is the umbrella term for the presence of differing opinions in the sphere in which shūrā is practiced, together with equality in the freedom to express them. It is not synonymous with freedom: freedom is what shūrā is practiced through, whereas pluralism concerns the presence of opinion and counter-opinion and the multiplicity of views within that practice.
For connected reading: Shūrā, Pluralism, Freedom, The Civil State, Religion, and Authority.
Synthetic Inference
The relationship between shūrā and pluralism can be understood as follows: since opinion and counter-opinion, and equality in expression, are among the foundations of shūrā, shūrā cannot be reduced to the declaration of a single opinion or to unequal participation. This is an inference from the structure of the text, not an independent quotation from it.
Open Question and Limits of Reading
The displayed passage does not explain how these principles become a specific electoral or constitutional arrangement, nor how the cognitive, ethical, aesthetic, and customary frames of reference are to be distinguished when opinions conflict. Moreover, the statement that “acceptance of pluralism is its sound basis” requires recovering its location in the raw text in order to make verification complete.
The atom is connected to a broader structure: The people and the state translate plurality within a political unity, and to its source: Muhammad Shahrur: The State and Society.