Intended Meaning
The future unseen cannot be known by human beings with certainty, because knowing it in this way negates freedom and responsibility. If the future were known in advance, history would turn into a predetermined course with no choice in it.
Atom Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Argument movement: it denies the possibility of certain knowledge of the future because this would overturn freedom and responsibility.
- Key terms: future unseen, freedom, responsibility, history.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom makes ignorance of the future a condition for keeping choice open, and links knowledge and its limits to the continuity of human responsibility.
Links that aid reading
- Muhammad Shahrur al-Qasas al-Qur’ani Vol. 2
- Freedom, the Human Being, and Responsibility
- Freedom
- History
Basis
- Supporting text: “The future unseen cannot be known with certainty by human beings, because that negates freedom and responsibility, and turns history into a course predetermined in advance.”
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the formulation of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted word for word.
Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows in the course of the argument depends.
Editorial note
This atom serves the understanding of time as an open field, not a closed destiny.