Citation location: «القران في الفكر المعاصر», p. 26.
What is meant here?
What is documented on this page is the association of the term «القياس» with the phrase «الرجوع إلى الأصل». The available material does not directly establish the claim that this means referring every new issue back to a fixed original, or that it precludes the creation of an independent ruling.
What is attributed to Shahrur
The witness specific to this atom is: «القياس/الرجوع إلى الأصل». It is sufficient to establish this verbal association, but not to provide a detailed definition of analogy.
Elsewhere, Shahrur describes punishments as a field of possibilities and options, “leaving the task of ijtihad in them to human beings through legislative parliaments.” This is an explicit text establishing a role for human ijtihad in this domain.
The atlas’s explanation
The atlas distinguishes between two things: the presence of a reference to «الرجوع إلى الأصل», and the construction of a complete definition of analogy. The former is established by the witness; the latter requires a text explaining the original, its relation to the branch or new development, and the conclusion entailed by that relation.
Accordingly, the phrase “not through creating an independent ruling” should not be treated as an established statement by Shahrur in this atom.
Qualified conclusion
On the basis of the evidence presented, it is not valid to portray analogy in Shahrur’s thought as a general rule that eliminates ijtihad. The available text on punishments establishes that he leaves “the task of ijtihad” to human beings through legislative parliaments, while this passage remains insufficient to define analogy itself.
Open question
What is the full textual context of the phrase «القياس/الرجوع إلى الأصل»? And to what subject does Shahrur apply it? This cannot be determined before recovering the original passage or finding a direct witness that explains the phrase.
Links that aid reading
- Muhammad Shahrur the Qur’an in Contemporary Thought
- Critique of heritage, jurisprudence, and exegesis
- The contemporary reading of the Qur’an breaks with inherited tradition and rests on a scientific method
The Qur’an in Contemporary Thought · The contemporary reading of the Qur’an breaks with inherited tradition and rests on a scientific method