The Unifying Idea
For Shahrur, re-reading the Sunna is based on liberating understanding from inherited sanctification and linking reading to the Qur’an and consciousness together. The issue is not religious only; it also concerns the relationship between understanding and authority, and the use of narration to entrench domination.
Theses Included in the Axis
- The contemporary Sunna is understood through Qur’anic terms, not through inherited sanctification.
- Intellectual change precedes political change.
- Hadiths are used to justify political domination.
Support for the Axis from the Atoms
- The contemporary Sunna is read through the Qur’an
- The Qur’an and reality are the criterion of acceptance
- Intellectual change before political change
- Employing hadiths to entrench authority
Reading Method
These theses are read as interconnected: the criterion of understanding first, then its effect in the public sphere. Every narration is measured against the Qur’an and reality, and then it is assessed whether it produces consciousness or is used to entrench authority.