Intended meaning
Muhammad Shahrur holds that, in its contemporary understanding, the Sunna is not read as an independent source, but within a network of Qur’anic concepts. He makes terms such as following and exemplariness an entry point to this understanding. He also emphasizes that the primary reference is the Revelation, not inherited sacralization.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Movement of the argument: it reads the Sunna within Qur’anic concepts, not as an independent source.
- Central terms: Sunna, Qur’an, following, exemplariness.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom defines a way of reading the Sunna through the Qur’an, preventing its separation from the foundational reference, while keeping Qur’anic concepts as the framework for interpreting meaning.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- The Sunna between messengership and prophethood
- Sunna
- Qur’an
- The contemporary Sunna is understood through Qur’anic vocabulary, not through inherited sacralization
Basis
- Supporting text: “The contemporary Sunna should be understood within a network of Qur’anic concepts, not as a source independent of the Revelation.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
- Location: in the first section of the book within the discussion of the Sunna and hadiths.
- Type of basis: close witness.
- Mark helping verification: the Wise Revelation
- Reading note: the passage links the understanding of the Sunna and the Revelation to Qur’anic judgment and denies the independence of unseen hadiths, which is close to the intended atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based on more than one witness or on a clear composition of closely related expressions.
- Reason for classification: the two texts direct one to read the Sunna through Qur’anic concepts.
- 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 textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is methodological; it regulates the mode of reading or inference followed by the book.
Related to
Editorial note
It is a methodological atom that organizes what follows of judgments about the Sunna.