Meaning
Shahrur holds that the inherited classification of the Qur’anic sciences lacks rigor and involves confusion and overlap among its fields of inquiry. Consequently, the science of exegesis came to encroach upon all the other sciences—not as a sound expansion of knowledge, but as a result of a defect in the ordering and boundaries of these sciences.
Structure of the Atom in the Atlas
- Argument type: critical
- Argument movement: It describes the science of exegesis as encroaching upon the rest of the Qur’anic sciences because of inherited confusion.
- Central terms: the science of exegesis, encroachment, confusion, Qur’anic sciences.
- Degree of centrality: secondary.
It presents a critical picture of the balance among disciplines within the tradition, in which exegesis became a dominant center. The aim here is to show the effect of the defect in the distribution of epistemic functions.
Links That Aid Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: the Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration
- Critique of Tradition, Jurisprudence, and Exegesis
- the science of exegesis
- Qur’anic narratives fall within the epistemic dimension, not legislation
Evidence
- Supporting text: “The inherited classification of the Qur’anic sciences lacks rigor and involves confusion and overlap, until the science of exegesis came to encroach upon all the other sciences.”
Location of the Evidence in the Book
- Book: The Mother of the Book and Its Elaboration.
- Location: in the opening sections of the book
- Type of evidence: closely related textual witness.
- Verification marker: the science of exegesis
- Reading note: This passage is suitable as evidence because it discusses the Qur’anic sciences and the encroachment of the science of exegesis within them; it is close to the atom’s methodological idea.
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 wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness has been reproduced textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is declarative: it establishes a conclusion on which the subsequent course of the argument relies.
Related to
Note for the Reader
The atom extends the critique of classification and is not an entirely independent issue.