Intended Meaning
Shahrur holds that ijtihad in the sacred text is confined to the verses of elaboration within the muhkamat, and that the validity of its outcome is measured by the extent of its credibility with objective reality, without placing people under hardship. The more understanding and legislation respond to reality at the moment of reading, the closer they are to correctness and the better they are at performing the legislative function.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: methodological
- Movement of the argument: measures the validity of ijtihad by the extent of its correspondence to objective reality.
- Key terms: ijtihad, objective reality, historical reading, parliament.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom sets the criterion of correctness outside subjective impression and makes it depend on the credibility of understanding in relation to reality, thus linking the validity of reading to its practical verificability and to reducing hardship.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation
- the methodology of contemporary reading
Basis
- Supporting text: «4- Ijtihad in the sacred text comes exclusively through ijtihad in the verses of elaboration of the muhkamat alone. The validity of the outcome of ijtihad is determined by the credibility between the text and reality, without placing people under hardship and with the minimum restriction of their freedom. Ijtihad is valid and acceptable to the extent that it responds to objective reality, or, in other words, to the extent of the reader of the text’s understanding of objective reality at the moment of historical reading. The criterion for the credibility of the mujtahid’s understanding of the text is the responsiveness of his ijtihad to reality; this is what determines whether reading is correct or incorrect, and its degree of correctness and error. This is also what determines the success or failure of any parliament in its legislation, since the more the legislation is identical and responsive to objective reality, the more successful the parliament is in its task of understanding it».
Place of the Basis in the Book
- Book: Guide to the Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of basis: direct evidence.
- Marker for verification: credibility between text and reality
- Reading note: this passage is suitable as a direct basis because it makes the validity of ijtihad contingent on its correspondence with reality and its credibility with it.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on a clear witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is methodological; it regulates the mode of reading or inference followed by the book.
Editorial Note
This is a central methodological atom in the project of contemporary reading.