What is meant
Shahrur sees that justice in inheritance is not understood as equality between every individual and another, but is realized at the level of groups. That is, the distribution of inheritance is viewed as a system that achieves balance within the community, not within individuals separately.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Movement of the argument: makes justice in inheritance collective, not individual.
- Key terms: justice, inheritance, groups.
- Degree of centrality: original.
It shifts the standard of justice from the individual to the community, and thus reads distribution as social balance rather than arithmetical equality between people.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
- The Book, the Qur’an, and the Mother of the Book
- The verse of light sets a minimum for dress and leaves the rest to custom
Basis
- Supporting text: “that justice in it is realized at the level of groups, not individuals.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of basis: close witness.
- Mark that helps verification: the realization of special justice
- Reading note: the passage links the distribution of money to achieving special and collective justice, and is very close to the content of the atom.
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 should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Related to
Editorial note
The atom establishes a collective standard in interpretation.