The Intended Meaning
Shahrur sees beauty as coming after function is achieved, not before it and not in place of it. The essence of a thing or an act is the performance of its practical purpose, and only then is beauty added as a later stage that completes it without changing its foundation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: Value-based
- Movement of the argument: Beauty comes after function, not before it and not in place of it.
- Key terms: beauty, function, performance, later stage.
- Degree of centrality: secondary.
This atom makes function primary and beauty a later complement to it. It gives priority to practical purpose over adornment or beautification.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, the Book and the Qur’an
- Critique of heritage, jurisprudence, and exegesis
- Poetry and literature head the artistic hierarchy
Grounding
- Supporting text: «It presents beauty as a later stage after function».
Place of Grounding in the Book
- Book: The Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: In the final section of the book, within the discussion of the development of architectural consciousness from need to aesthetic abstraction.
- Type of grounding: Close evidence.
- Marker that helps verification: the stage of aesthetic abstraction
- Reading note: This location works because it presents function as preceding beauty, then clearly mentions the stage of aesthetic abstraction.
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 formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited verbatim.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial Note
For him, it is linked to the ordering of artistic and intellectual values.