Intended Meaning
Shahrur sees the Qur’anic narrative as connected to human freedom, responsibility, and cognitive development; therefore, the human being is an actor in history, not subject to a fixed determinism. For him, the Qur’anic story opens the space for choice and the making of destiny instead of surrendering to rigid fatalism.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Movement of the argument: the human being is an actor in history because he is free and responsible.
- Key terms: human being, history, freedom, responsibility, cognitive development.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom grants the human being the position of agent rather than passive recipient, and ties history to choice and responsibility, making the Qur’anic narrative a horizon for understanding human initiative and its transformation through time.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, The Qur’anic Narrative, vol. 1
- Freedom, the Human Being, and Responsibility
- Human being
- History
- Freedom
Support
- Supporting text: «It links the Qur’anic narrative with human freedom, responsibility, and cognitive development, and makes the human being an actor in history rather than subject to fixed determinism».
Location of the Support in the Book
- Book: The Qur’anic Narrative, vol. 1.
- Location: at the beginning of the book, where he presents the becoming of the human being within the movement of history.
- Type of support: close witness.
- Marker that helps verification: the human being’s dialectic with the human being
- Reading note: this location is suitable as evidence because it links the understanding of narrative to the dialectic of human being with human being and with nature, and it is 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 wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows in the course of the argument depends.
Related to
Editorial Note
The atom shifts the center of gravity from determinism to action.