What Is Meant
Muhammad Shahrur holds that these Qur’anic terms are not isolated words, but interconnected semantic keys that explain how to understand the human being’s relationship to the world and to law. Among them are: إذن, شاء, كتاب, قدر, قضاء, عمل, فعل, صنع, كسب, خلق, سوى, جعل, الحنيفية, and الاستقامة By understanding them, the network of meaning through which he reconstructs the conception of law and human existence becomes clear
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Argument movement: turns Qur’anic terms into semantic keys for building understanding.
- Central terms: إذن, شاء, كتاب, قدر, قضاء.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It explains the reading principle that relies on a network of terms rather than isolated words. It is foundational in reordering the relationship between the text, the human being, and the world.
Links That Help with Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: the Book and the Qur’an
- the contemporary reading methodology
- Rejecting Synonymy among the Terms of Revelation
Basis
- Supporting text: «interprets terms such as: إذن, شاء, كتاب, قدر, قضاء, عمل, فعل, صنع, كسب, خلق, سوى, جعل, الحنيفية, الاستقامة, as keys to understanding the human being’s relationship with the world and with the law».
Basis in the Book
- Book: the Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: at the beginning of the book, within the introduction to the linguistic method
- Type of basis: near evidence.
- Verification marker: linguistic method
- Reading note: the passage discusses the linguistic method and the determination of meanings; it is close support for the idea that Qur’anic terms are keys to understanding.
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 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
This is a foundational atom for the method of understanding, not for a partial conclusion.