What is meant
The village in this context means the singular society that is based on a single pattern of thinking or living It refers to the closed structure that tends toward coercion and is constrained by plurality
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Movement of the argument: it makes the village an image of the singular society closed off by coercion.
- Key terms: village, singular society, coercion, plurality.
- Degree of centrality: central.
The term becomes a critical symbol of the closed structure, showing that social closure is not neutral but produces constriction of multiplicity and diversity.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- Critique of authoritarianism and singularity
- Plurality
- Plurality is a Qur’anic condition for development, whereas singularity produces destruction and despotism
Grounding
- Supporting text: «The village: the singular society».
Place of grounding in the book
- Book: The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of grounding: near witness.
- Marker that helps verification: singular society
- Reading note: It works as evidence because it states that the singular society is based on coercion, which is a meaning close to 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 definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
The atom is symbolic and requires contextual reading.