What is Intended
Muhammad Shahrur argues that the partial interpretation of the Qur’an develops historically as knowledge advances, and does not remain with a single fixed meaning in every age. As for complete interpretation, it is not fulfilled until the ultimate end on the Day of Judgment Therefore, interpretation for him is relative and subject to correction
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Movement of the argument: partial interpretation changes historically, whereas complete interpretation is not fulfilled until the ultimate end.
- Central terms: interpretation, partial, complete, history, the ultimate end.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom establishes the idea that understanding the text is not permanently fixed in every age. It makes cognitive correction part of the reading process itself.
Links to Help with Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur The Book and the Qur’an
- The Method of Contemporary Reading
- Interpretation
- History
- The Qur’an and the Mother of the Book
Basis
- Supporting text: “The complete interpretation of the Qur’an is not fulfilled except at the ultimate end/Day of Judgment, whereas partial interpretation develops historically.”
Location of the Basis in the Book
- Book: The Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: in the final section of the book within the determination of the rules of interpretation
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Verification marker: the rules of interpretation were determined
- Reading note: the location is suitable because it states that what was considered synonymous appeared different, and that the rules of interpretation were determined in light of the new concepts.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: synthetically documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on more than one witness or on a clear synthesis of closely related statements.
- Reason for classification: the multiplicity of witnesses explicitly establishes the relativity and historicity of interpretation.
- Limits of the reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative; it establishes a result on which what follows depends in the course of the argument.
Related to
Editorial Note
This is one of the major methodological atoms in the project.