What is meant
In this context, “the people” is a broad group united by a shared political and organizational framework: one state and one economic and legal system. The definition is not a description of any human gathering merely because its individuals are present together.
What is attributed to Shahrur
The definition appears in the text as follows: “The people: a broader group united by one state and one economic and legal system.” It makes the state and the economic and legal systems constituent elements of the definition.
Atlas explanation
This text explains the meaning of “the people” through the shared structure that organizes the group, rather than through numbers alone or mere physical gathering. The phrase “united by” connects the group to a state and to two shared systems specified in the text.
Limited inference
Within the limits of this definition, the people may be understood as an organized political and social unit. But this is an explanatory inference from the definition; it adds no further conditions for belonging and does not specify how the state or the two systems come into being.
Open question and limits of the evidence
This passage alone does not settle the distinction between “the people” and “the nation,” so they should not be treated as synonymous on its basis. Nor does it explain the details of the intended “economic system” or “legal system.”
For related reading: Muhammad Shahrur Drying Up the Springs of Terrorism, The Civil State, Religion, and Authority, The People.