What is meant
What is meant is that the shares of the roots and branches in this conception are not open to unrestricted ijtihad, but are pre-established obligations That is, each of the roots and branches has a fixed share that does not exceed its limit
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: It states that the roots and branches are not an open field, but have a fixed limit.
- Key terms: roots, branches, pre-established obligations.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It sets the frame of meaning before any derivation, so that the statement is not understood as an unbounded generality. It makes the relationship between the roots and branches one of fixed determination, not free expansion.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence
- Legislation, limits, and prohibition
- The verse of Light sets a minimum standard for clothing and leaves the rest to custom
Basis
- Supporting text: “For the shares of the roots and branches are pre-established obligations.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: Toward New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence.
- Location: in the first section of the book
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Verification marker: rulings change
- Reading note: the passage discusses the limits of rulings and their change with time and place, and it serves as close support for the atom despite the lack of literal exactness.
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 quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it fixes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in constructing the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
The wording is a summary of the text’s meaning and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation.