What Is Attributed to Shahrur
Shahrur presents The Message as containing “قواعد السلوك الإنساني الواعي” and distinguishing between “الحلال والحرام، وافعل ولا تفعل”. He then defines the “Mother of the Book” as the collection of decisive verses, stating that these verses are the “مجموعة الأحكام” that contains the rules of human conduct.
Accordingly, the documented claim is not that the term “Mother of the Book” is a literal synonym for “legislation,” but that, for him, the Mother of the Book consists of the decisive verses in which he places rulings and rules of conduct.
Atlas Explanation
“Legislation” in the atom’s title is an explanatory label for the function of these verses in the presentation described: they are connected with rulings, the lawful and unlawful, commands and prohibitions. The cited terminological definition remains: the “Mother of the Book” is the “collection of decisive verses.”
This helps in reading the distinction between the decisive and the ambiguous without equating the terms: the evidence here defines the Mother of the Book through the decisive verses, not as the ambiguous verses.
Synthetic Conclusion
In this context, the Mother of the Book serves as a defining node for understanding the domain of rulings in Shahrur’s framework: its definition through the decisive verses, and the description of those decisive verses as a collection of rulings and rules of conduct, form the basis for linking it to legislation.
Open Question and Limit of Reading
Shahrur states here that the term “Mother of the Book” has one meaning wherever it occurs in the Book. This page, however, does not trace his detailed application of this definition to every Qur’anic occurrence, including “وعنده أم الكتاب”; that requires a separate page or independent applied evidence.