Evidence location: Muhammad Shahrur, Religion and Power; Page 10؛ OCR line 172. Arabic source witness: «فالإنسان، قديماً وحاضراً ومستقبلاً، حرّ ويتعامل بقيمه الإنسانية في جلّ ميادين حياته»
What does the source record?
According to the available composite evidence, not the raw text of the Book: “Shahrur’s theses in this passage hold that religion is not founded on coercion, but on choice, consent, and awareness.” Since this source does not specify a location in the Book or provide raw context, its function here is to clarify the meaning on which the claim atom was built, not to establish a direct quotation from the author.
What do the available evidences not establish?
The available raw evidence does not contain the expression “human agency,” so it should not be presented as a term used by Shahrur or as a fixed definition of freedom. Likewise, passages concerning the “sovereignty of the human being” are not suitable as direct evidence that freedom is a condition for religious commitment, or that religious commitment can only be by choice; in this context, they present a view of Abu al-Qasim Haj Hamad: “the inauguration of the stage of ‘the sovereignty of the human being,’ invisibly connected to God, without sensory objects or visible phenomena.”
Limit of the inference
The connection between freedom and choice may be treated as an editorial hypothesis based on the recorded composite source, not as a textually documented claim from the Book unless a direct, specifically located witness is found. See: Muhammad Shahrur: Religion and Power, Freedom, the Human Being, and Responsibility, Freedom, Islam Conforms to Innate Disposition, and Freedom Is the Foundation of the Human Being.