The Intended Meaning
Here, the awra does not necessarily mean the vulva; rather, it may indicate a bad deed or something one would be ashamed to display. Therefore, the intended meaning is broader than the direct bodily sense, and is connected to what calls for modesty or covering.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: interpretive
- Movement of the argument: it expands the meaning of awra beyond the direct bodily sense.
- Key terms: awra, vulva, modesty.
- Degree of centrality: secondary.
The term awra opens onto meanings that go beyond the immediate body, linking it to shame, covering, and what is socially deemed objectionable to reveal.
Links That Help Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, Toward New Principles for Islamic Jurisprudence
- Women, Family, and Clothing
- Hijab, as a concept of dress, does not conform to common conventions
Basis
- Supporting text: “Awra: not necessarily the vulva, but it may mean a bad deed or what one would be ashamed to display.”
Location of the Basis in the Book
- Book: Toward New Principles for Islamic Jurisprudence.
- Location: in the final section of the book, within his discussion of awra and the clothing of piety.
- Type of basis: close textual witness.
- Markers that help verification: it is the bad deed, not the vulva
- Reading note: the passage serves as evidence because it explicitly states that awra is the bad deed, not the vulva.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on an explicit 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 quoted textually.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial Note
The atom draws attention to the multiplicity of meaning in the term.