Meaning
Shahrur distinguishes here between what God prohibits and what is permitted to human beings, making prohibition the exclusive right of God alone. As for the human being, their role is to place restrictions on permitted matters according to need and order, not to turn them into prohibitions. Thus, human regulation is understood as the control of what is permitted, rather than legislation of prohibition.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Argument type: legislative.
- Argument movement: establishes that human authority is confined to regulating what is permitted, not creating prohibitions.
- Central terms: the permissible, prohibition, the human being, order.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It draws a boundary between what is attributed to God in prohibition and what is attributed to the human being in regulation, distinguishing divine legislation from human governance.
Links That Aid Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: Religion and Authority
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Prohibition
- The Human Being
- Islamic heritage became a standard instead of remaining material for study
Basis
- Supporting text: “The distinction between what is prohibited and what is permitted is fundamental: God alone prohibits, while the human being restricts permitted matters and does not prohibit them.”
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented.
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on explicit evidence close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the evidence is quoted textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is methodological; it governs the mode of reading or inference followed by the book.
Related to
Note for the Reader
The atom clearly distinguishes between prohibition and regulation, and needs to be connected to what precedes and follows it within the sequence.