Meaning
What is meant here is not a complete definition of abstract language, but the statement of a condition: according to the quoted formulation, divine revelation occurs only to a being that possesses it.
What Is Attributed to Shahrur
In the Book and the Qur’an, it is stated: “Divine revelation can occur only to a being that possesses an abstract language.”
Atlas Explanation
The statement links the occurrence of revelation to the possession of abstract language, making such possession a necessary condition in the quoted formulation. The statement itself does not provide a definition of abstract language or describe the capacities of the being that possesses it.
Qualified Inference
The statement establishes only the condition in this direction: the occurrence of revelation presupposes possession of an abstract language. It should not be reversed into the claim that possessing an abstract language is sufficient for receiving revelation.
Open Question and Limits of the Evidence
What is Shahrur’s definition of “abstract language”? Does he explain it elsewhere in relation to sensation or meaning? The available evidence does not settle this. For a reading connected to the context of revelation, see Revelation and dreams differ because the former is non-sensory and the latter consists of confused images, and the Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book.