Meaning
Shahrur distinguishes between the forbidden as a divine ruling and the prohibited as something imposed by social conventions or laws. For him, indecency is forbidden, whereas certain forms of marriage or divorce may be socially or legally prohibited without being religiously forbidden.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: legislative.
- Movement of the argument: what is divinely forbidden differs from what is socially or legally prohibited.
- Central terms: the forbidden, the prohibited, indecency, ijtihad.
- Degree of centrality: foundational.
It shifts the ruling from conflating religion and custom to distinguishing between what is legislatively forbidden and what is administratively prohibited, thereby reordering the sources of obligation.
Links That Aid Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
- Legislation, Limits, and Prohibition
- Distinguishing Between the Forbidden and the Prohibited Frees Jurisprudence from Terminological Confusion
Evidence
- Supporting text: “He distinguishes between the forbidden and the prohibited: indecency is forbidden, whereas certain forms of marriage or divorce belong to the sphere of social/legal prohibition rather than divine prohibition.”
Location of the Evidence in the Book
- Book: Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence.
- Location: within the discussion of the difference between prohibition and restriction in the first section of the book.
- Type of evidence: close textual witness.
- Verification marker: forbidden false testimony.
- Reading note: this passage is suitable evidence because it distinguishes between what is forbidden and what is prohibited in juridical usage.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented.
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is cited word for word.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in constructing the idea.
Related to
Note for the Reader
An important atom for understanding both the limits of prohibition and social regulation.