What is meant
Muhammad Shahrur argues that the center of Islam is God’s word in the Qur’an, not the sayings of the Prophet and the Companions as sacred texts Therefore, he treats these sayings as historical documents that do not rise to the level of sanctity In this way, he restricts the supreme religious authority to the Qur’an alone
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: distinguishing
- Movement of the argument: it separates the center of the Qur’an from the status of the historical sayings.
- Key terms: the Qur’an, God’s word, the Prophet, the Companions.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It draws the boundaries of authority within religion, so that the Qur’an remains at the center and human sayings remain within the domain of history and human understanding.
Reading aids
- Muhammad Shahrur the Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- the Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- the Qur’an
- the Prophet
- Inherited jurisprudence is a human historical construction that does not possess authority equal to the Qur’an
Grounding
- Supporting text: “He emphasizes that the center of Islam is God’s word in the Qur’an, not the sayings of the Prophet and the Companions as sacred texts; rather, he sees them as historical documents.”
Place of the grounding in the book
- Book: the Qur’an in Contemporary Thought.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of grounding: close witness.
- Verifying marker: historical documents
- Reading note: the phrase states clearly that the sayings of the Messenger are historical documents, not sacred texts in themselves, and this accords with the atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies 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 textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial note
This atom is one of the most important foundational atoms for the position of the Sunna and jurisprudence in Shahrur’s structure.