What is meant
Shahrur states that Islam is distinct from faith in the Qur’an: Islam is belief in God and the Last Day together with righteous action, whereas faith is belief in the prophethood of Muhammad and the rituals specific to his followers. Therefore, the pillars and values are not understood as one and the same thing; rather, each has a different domain.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: Distinguishing
- Argument movement: Separates Islam and faith as two different domains
- Key terms: Islam, faith, righteous action, rituals, pillars.
- Degree of centrality: Primary.
This atom rests on rejecting the equation of the concepts of Islam and faith, because each one performs a different function in the religious structure. It is therefore central to the atlas’s introduction to Shahrur’s concepts of religious identity.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: A Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation
- Islam, Faith, and Righteous Action
- Islam
- Faith
- Righteous action
Basis
- Supporting text: “The pillars of Islam differ from the pillars of faith, and tradition has conflated the two. Moral and human values belong to general Islam, not to the faith specific to the followers of Muhammad alone.”
Basis location in the book
- Book: Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of basis: Close evidence.
- Verification marker: human values from righteous action
- Reading note: This location is appropriate because it distinguishes between Islam and faith, and places human values within general Islam.
Degree of documentation
- Level: Synthetically documented
- Meaning of the level: The atom is based on more than one witness or on a clear synthesis of closely related expressions.
- Reason for classification: The witnesses explicitly state the distinction and define Islam and faith in different terms.
- Limits of reading: The formulation above is an analytical summary, and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted exactly.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction that Shahrur relies on in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
Do not read this as merely a linguistic detail, but as a redistribution of concepts.