Intended meaning
The intended meaning is that the state that can endure is the state of the citizen, not the state of persons or their sanctification It is a state based on law, freedom, human rights, and institutions, not on loyalty to individuals
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: for him, the continuity of the state is tied to the state of the citizen, not to the sanctification of persons.
- Key terms: citizen state, law, freedom, human rights, institutions.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom offers a criterion for evaluating the state: survival and continuity pass through citizenship, law, and institutions. Its value lies in shifting the center of legitimacy from the person to the structure.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The State and Society
- The Civil State, Religion, and Authority
- Freedom
- The people and the state translate plurality within a political unity
Basis
- Supporting text: «The state qualified for continuity is the state of the citizen, based on law, freedom, human rights, and institutions, not on the sanctification of persons».
Location of the basis in the book
- Book: The State and Society.
- Location: in the middle section of the book, within the discussion of the constitution, institutions, and the state.
- Type of basis: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: the institutions that derive their legitimacy from the constitution
- Reading note: this location is suitable as evidence because it links the constitution to all members of society and defines the state as the institutions that derive their legitimacy from it.
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 reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted verbatim.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial note
It is a normative atom that defines what the state should be based on.