Intended Meaning
The intended meaning is that wisdom or noble character is not merely individual or local traits, but rather universal human values shared by people. In this context, the Sunna is understood as bearing this level of universal ethical meaning.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: ethical wisdom is a universal human value that transcends the local and the individual.
- Key terms: wisdom, noble character, human values.
- Degree of centrality: subsidiary.
The atom connects wisdom and noble character as universal human values, not as qualities confined to one group or one era. From this perspective, the Sunna is understood as carrying a universal ethical meaning.
Reading Aids
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- The Sunna between messengerhood and prophethood
Basis
- Supporting text: “Wisdom/noble character as universal human values.”
Basis Location in the Book
- Book: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
- Location: in the first section of the book, within the discussion of the meaning of wisdom.
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Marker that helps verification: the wisdom mentioned
- Reading note: This passage is suitable as evidence because it links wisdom to general ethical values that go beyond narrow particularity.
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 the 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 definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Editorial Note
The atom is introductory more than decisive.