Intended Meaning
Shahrur holds that the detailed rulings in fasting, pilgrimage, almsgiving, retaliation, and other matters are not fixed in a single form, but are understood as open to practical ijtihad according to changing circumstances. Therefore, their application is linked to the development of society and knowledge, not to inherited juristic imitation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: his detailed rulings are open to ijtihad according to changing circumstances.
- Key terms: detailed rulings, practical ijtihad, changing circumstances, fasting, pilgrimage.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom makes juristic application open to changing circumstances, not confined within a single form. Its importance lies in linking legislation to social and cognitive movement.
Links for Reading
Basis
- Supporting text: “Legislation must take into account the development of society and knowledge, and therefore the understanding of texts does not remain fixed on the ijtihads of inherited jurisprudence. The detailed rulings in fasting, pilgrimage, almsgiving, retaliation, and others are understood as open to practical ijtihad according to changing circumstances.”
Basis Location in the Book
- Book: The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration.
- Location: at the beginning of the book, within the discussion of the vitality of texts
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Mark to help verification: through which they develop
- Reading note: the passage affirms that texts are not frozen and that their understanding develops with human capacities, which is very close to the atom.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based on more than one piece of evidence or on a clear composition of closely related expressions.
- Reason for classification: the evidence states that detailed rulings are open to changing ijtihad.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the evidence is quoted verbatim.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is methodological; it regulates the mode of reading or inference followed by the book.
Editorial Note
The atom emphasizes the applicability of change.