What Is Meant Here?
This atom records a specific description in Muhammad Shahrur, the Book and the Qur’an: the legislations in earlier books are described as “concrete and transitional.” The description on this page alone should not be turned into a complete theory of all earlier legislation.
What Is Attributed to Shahrur
He states: “In contrast to the concrete, transitional legislations in the previous books.”
In the immediate context, he maintains that the earlier messages before Muhammad came “in the form of separate, concrete rulings and part of the commandments.” Thus, the available text combines the description of earlier legislations as concrete and transitional with his discussion of separate, concrete rulings.
Atlas Explanation
“Concrete” and “transitional” are two descriptions that occur together in the passage, and this page does not separate them into independent definitions because the evidence does not provide that. It is an evidence page that captures where the description occurs, not one that establishes all its implications for legislative theory.
Limited Inference
This passage can be read as an element in constructing an argument that distinguishes earlier legislations in terms of their connection to their stage. But this is a synthetic inference limited by the wording of the passage; it is not a quotation stating that all those legislations are impermanent or unsuitable for every time.
Open Question and Limits of the Evidence
What precisely does “transitional” mean in this passage: does it describe time, the addressees, or the form of the ruling? The available quotation does not settle this. Nor is it sufficient on its own to establish the statement, “It is not a final formula for all people in every time”; a broader passage is needed for that.
For the structural context, see: The Book and the Qur’an and the Mother of the Book. For a reading of the book’s structure, see: The previous legislations are transitional and concrete.
The Book and the Qur’an · The previous legislations are transitional and concrete