Intended Meaning
The intended meaning is that the Mother of the Book is the clear verses of the message that contain the fixed rulings. They represent the foundation on which the stability of legislation rests, while the details remain a field for human ijtihad.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: it places the message as the locus of fixed rulings on which legislation is built
- Central terms: the message, the Mother of the Book, the fixed rulings, the limits.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
This atom affirms that legislative stability is not sought in all texts equally, but in the clear locus of the message. It therefore serves as a link between the root of the ruling and what branches from it in the form of detail and ijtihad.
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Basis
- Supporting text: «The Mother of the Book: the clear verses of the message with fixed rulings. The detail of the Book: the detailing of the verses of the Mother of the Book, and it is a field of human ijtihad. The ambiguous verses: the verses of prophethood/the Qur’an that are open to interpretation, confirmation, and denial».
Source Location in the Book
- Book: Drying Up the Springs of Terrorism.
- Location: in the final section of the book, within the treatment of stability and dynamism in legislation.
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Verification marker: the fixed in legislation is the clear verses
- Reading note: this passage is suitable as evidence because it distinguishes between the fixed in legislation and the flexible, which relates to changing circumstances.
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 phrases.
- Reason for classification: the evidence links the Mother of the Book directly to the fixed rulings of the message.
- Limits of the reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the evidence is quoted word for word.
Editorial Note
It serves to distinguish the fixed origin from the variable derivation.