What is meant
What is meant is that what comes in the form of a prohibition is not understood as an inherent, fixed ban, but rather its prohibition or permissibility is left to human ijtihad and legislative authority. Therefore, dealing with it becomes subject to human judgment according to interest and circumstance, not to a rigid, definitive ruling.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: places prohibition within the sphere of human ijtihad rather than definitive prohibition.
- Central terms: prohibitions, ijtihad, legislative authority, prohibition.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
The atom explains that the form of prohibition alone is not sufficient to produce a fixed prohibition; it requires legislative consideration that takes interest and circumstance into account, thereby granting ijtihad a decisive role in legislation.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, Religion and Authority
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Prohibition
- Qur’anic prohibitions are fixed, while prohibition is left to human ijtihad
Grounding
- Supporting text: «What he prohibited and left the determination of its prevention or permissibility to human ijtihad and legislative authority».
The basis of grounding in the book
- Book: Religion and Authority.
- Location: in the final section of the book, within the discussion of legislative authority.
- Type of grounding: direct evidence.
- Marker to aid verification: not subject to ijtihad in it.
- Reading note: the passage states that the prohibitions are specified and there is no room for ijtihad in adding to them, which is a principle close to the atom required.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based 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 quoted verbatim.
Its function in the book
Its function here is methodological; it regulates the mode of reading or inference adopted by the book.
Related to
Editorial note
This is a legislative atom because it redistributes the authority of judgment between the text and ijtihad.