The Intended Meaning
Muhammad Shahrur interprets the phrase «بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِيٍّ مُبِينٍ» as meaning the Arabic language, or the Quraysh dialect specifically, as the linguistic vessel of revelation. The intended meaning is not merely eloquence or rhetoric, but the tongue in which the Wise Revelation was sent down.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: it defines the clear Arabic tongue as the vessel of revelation associated with the Quraysh dialect.
- Central terms: the clear Arabic tongue, the Arabic language, the Quraysh dialect, revelation.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
This atom establishes a specific linguistic concept for the Qur’anic expression, so that the specified tongue becomes part of understanding the text, not merely a description of its eloquence or fluency.
Links That Help with Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: Umm al-Kitab and Its Elaboration
- the Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- the Quraysh tongue and the unity of the text support a non-synonymous linguistic epistemic project
Basis
- Supporting text: «He interprets the phrase {بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِيٍّ مُبِينٍ} as meaning the Arabic language/Quraysh dialect as the linguistic vessel of revelation, not merely eloquence».
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 the reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
It is preferable to preserve the distinction between linguistic specification and judgment about eloquence.