Intended meaning
Shahrur holds that the Qur’anic narratives are not intended to establish legislation, but rather to provide admonition and lesson. They include reports about the unseen in the past and the future, and therefore should not be turned into a direct source of rulings and obligations
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: it makes the Qur’anic narratives a field for admonition and lesson, not a direct source of rulings.
- Key terms: Qur’anic narratives, admonition, legislation.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It defines the function of narrative within the Qur’anic structure, and prevents it from being turned into a binding legal material in jurisprudence, while keeping its educational and historical impact present in reading.
Links to aid reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Book and the Qur’an
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- The Qur’anic narratives
- the Qur’an
Basis
- Supporting text: «It affirms that the Qur’anic narratives are not for legislation but for admonition and lesson, and that they include reports of the unseen in the past and the future».
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests 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 quoted verbatim.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Links
Editorial note
This atom is directly connected to the idea of separating report from obligation.