Source location: The Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2, p. 49.
What does Shahrur say?
Shahrur states: “In the Wise Revelation, declaring things lawful or forbidden concerns actions and is not attributed to the essences of things.” He then sets out the general rule: “Lawfulness is the default for things, and prohibition is the exception.” He qualifies it with a specific exception: “Except in the matter of taking life—whether human, animal, or plant—in which prohibition is the default and lawfulness is the exception.”
Atlas explanation
This statement occurs in the context of a question about the expression “and [they] were made lawful” in al-An’am. In this context, lawfulness is not a description of the essence of livestock, but concerns the act of “slaughtering livestock for food and benefit.” The rule thus shifts the locus of judgment from the thing itself to the action connected with it.
Composite conclusion
Within this passage, the rule serves a regulating function: prohibition is not based merely on the description of a thing; rather, the action to which the ruling pertains is examined. This conclusion, however, does not negate the exception Shahrur explicitly states regarding taking life.
Open question and limit of the reading
This passage alone does not detail the conditions of the exception concerning taking life, nor all the applications that fall under it. Moreover, the witness uses “the lawful” and “lawfulness,” not “permissibility”; the terms should therefore not be treated here as technical synonyms without further evidence.
For the broader context: Muhammad Shahrur, The Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2, Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition, Prohibition, The default in things is permissibility and prohibition applies to acts.
The Qur’anic Narratives, vol. 2 · The default in things is permissibility and prohibition applies to acts