What is intended
Shahrur holds that prohibition is God’s exclusive right, and that the prohibited matters have been confined within the Book of God, so that no human being may add a prohibition to them. Rather, the Messenger, people, and authority have command and prohibition, or prevention according to circumstance and law, not prohibition itself
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: legislative
- Movement of the argument: restricts prohibition to God and separates it from human prohibition
- Key terms: prohibition, God, command, prohibition, the prohibited matters.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
This atom is among the ones most closely tied to the question of legislation, because it draws final boundaries around what may be called prohibition. It is therefore a basis for understanding the difference between a binding divine text and a regulatory human authority.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: A Guide to Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- prohibition
- God
- Prohibition and Human Legislation Are Separate Fields
Grounding
- Supporting text: «٥- الأساس في الحياة هو الإباحة، لذا فإن الوحيد صاحب الحق في التحريم هو الله فقط، ولكنّه أيضاً يأمر وينهى، والنبي كان يأمر وينهى، والناس كانوا وما زالوا يأمرون وينهّون، لأنّ هناك فرقاً شاسعاً بين التحريم والنهي. ويتّضح ذلك على أساس أنّ المحرّمات قد أُغلقت في كتاب الله وحُصرت فيه بـ ١٤ محرّماً لا أكثر ولا أقل، وبالتالي تصبح كل إفتاءات التحريم لا قيمة لها. وهكذا فإنّ كل ما عدا الله، ابتداءً من الرسل وانتهاءً بالهينات التشريعية، تنحصر مهمّته في الأمر والنهي فقط: { وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا } (الحشر ٧)، حيث إنّ كلاًّ من الأمر والنهي ظرفي زماني مكاني، والتحريم شمولي أبدي. لذا فإن الرسول (ص) لا يحرم ولا يحلل، وإنما يأمر وينهى، وكلّ نواهيه ظرفية لأنها عبارة عن اجتهادات في تفصيل المحكم كما جاء في الرسالة المحمّدية، وهي قابلة للنسخ لأنها اجتهادات إنسانية ظرفية وليست وحياً، وكانت بمثابة القانون المدني الذي».
Related verses
Place of grounding in the book
- Book: A Guide to Contemporary Reading of the Wise Revelation.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of grounding: close evidence.
- Verification marker: the only one with the right to prohibit
- Reading note: This passage directly supports the atom because it states that prohibition is God’s alone and distinguishes prohibition from command and prohibition.
Degree of documentation
- Level: structurally documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on more than one witness or on a clear combination of closely related phrases.
- Reason for classification: the text states that prohibition is confined to God, while command and prohibition are elaborated for human beings.
- Limits of reading: the wording 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 on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
It is a pivotal atom in the construction of the theory of limits.