The State Is Governed by Law, Not by Religious Coercion

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What is meant

Shahrur argues that religious rites remain a personal matter that concerns a person in their worship and private practice, and that they must not become a tool for governing the state The state is built on law and citizenship, not on religious coercion or imposing religiosity on people

The atom’s structure in the atlas

  • Type of argument: Political
  • Argument movement: It makes law and citizenship the basis of state administration, not religious coercion.
  • Key terms: state, law, citizenship, rites.
  • Degree of centrality: Central.

It separates the private sphere of religion from the public sphere of the state, and affirms that governance is based on law, not on imposing religiosity or using rites.

Reading aids

Basis

  • Supporting text: “Religious rites are a personal matter, while the state is governed by law and citizenship.”

Basis location in the book

  • Book: The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought.
  • Location: In the first section of the book, within the distinction between individual religiosity and citizenship.
  • Type of basis: Close witness.
  • Verification cue: Religiosity must be individual.
  • Reading note: The passage indicates that religiosity is individual and that the national state becomes unclear when religiosity overwhelms citizenship; this supports the atom.

Documentation level

  • Level: Directly documented
  • Meaning of level: The atom is based on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
  • Limits of reading: The wording 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 determines the mode of reading or inference followed by the book.

Editorial note

The atom is directly connected to the idea of the civil state, and it can be read as an application of it.

Graph View

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas