Intended meaning
The author links the rank of prophethood to the practice of political, social, and organizational ijtihad, that is, this rank is connected to managing the affairs of society and arranging them whereas the rank of messengerhood is, in his view, responsible for values, rituals, and binding legislation
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: Distinguishing
- Movement of the argument: It separates the function of prophethood from the function of messengerhood
- Key terms: rank of prophethood, social organization, rank of messengerhood, values, rituals.
- Degree of centrality: Central.
This atom places the rank of prophethood within the framework of organizational and social ijtihad, and leaves the rank of messengerhood to values and binding legislation. It is one of the pivotal atoms in arranging the relationship between the prophet and the state within the atlas.
Reading aids
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- The Sunna between messengerhood and prophethood
- The rank of prophethood
- The rank of messengerhood
- Intellectual change precedes political change
Basis
- Supporting text: «The rank of prophethood is linked to the practice of political, social, and organizational ijtihad, whereas the rank of messengerhood is linked to values, rituals, and binding legislation».
Place of support in the book
- Book: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
- Location: In the final section of the book, within the dictionary of the Prophetic Revolution.
- Type of support: Close witness.
- Marker that helps verification: Organizing the affairs of society
- Reading note: This location is suitable as support because it links the rank of prophethood to the organization of the state, war, peace, and social affairs, and it is close to the atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: Directly documented
- Meaning of the level: The atom rests on a clear 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 textually.
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.
Related to
Editorial note
Here the functional division between the two ranks appears.