We are continuing to discuss Muhammad Shahrur and have explained briefly the idea of curvature and straightness, which are important to understand the Theory of Limits, which will be the focus of this blog…
Basically, the divine decree (in the Book and the Sunna) sets a Lower (minimum that must be adhered to) and Upper Limit (maximum required by law) for all human actions…once these limits are breached, penalties are warranted, proportional to the size of the violation.
There are 6 types of limits:
1. Lower limit by itself e.g. marrying one’s mother, …etc. – these are limits, such that if you do not do them, then any other marriage is possible.
2. Upper limit by itself e.g. cut off the hands of thieves (5:38). The penalty here is the upper limit that cannot be exceeded but the penalty might be mitigated depending on the society…the mujtahids have to make the decision as to which type deserves cutting the hand e.g. stealing intelligence might have another verse apply to it e.g. 5:33 (those…”who make war upon God and His messenger…should be killed or crucified or…”) – again that is the upper limit.
3. Lower and upper limit conjoined e.g. inheritance. Shahrur believes that the upper limit of a man is twice that of a woman; and the lower limit of a woman is half that of a man – independent of maintenance costs…etc.. But the exact amount depends on the society…etc. This example shows the freedom of movement (curvature) in between the limits (straightness). He says that if we just rely on the interpretation 100s of years ago, we would be losing the curvature of islam.
4. Lower and upper limit together – he cites only one example: 24:2 (“the adulterer and the adulteress, scourge each one of them with a hundred lashes. And let not pity for the twain withhold you from obedience to God…”). Here, both the upper and lower limits are at one point i.e. 100 lashes. This is because God insists that the adulteres should not be pitied, signifying the punishment should not be mitigated.
5. Curvature in between the lower and upper limit but touches neither e.g. sexual relations between men and women – starts with the lower limit where the sexes are not to touch other; curvature in between that and the upper limit where they come close to committing adultery
6. Curvature between a positive upper limit and a negative lower limit e.g. interest. He considers the lower limit to be taking care of the poor, who cannot be forced to pay what they cannot afford (he uses 9:60 and 2:276 and narrations to help his point of view); but those who can pay, that is separate, and the upper limit is based on 3:130 “O you who believe, devour not usury, doubling and quadrupling [the sum lent]” i.e. the maximum limit of the interest paid is 100% of the principal independent of the duration (due to 2:280).
In the next blog, I will look at other applications of this theory e.g. to polygamy, as well as some of his other views…
Sources:
“The Quran, Morality and Critical Reason” by Muhammad Shahrur
http://www.islam-and-muslims.com/Quran-Morality-Critical-Reason.pdf
Islamic Legal Theories by Wael Hallaq
Salaam Alaikum
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post.
Maybe I have missed the reason in your post but I don't quite understand how these have been positioned into different limits. Is it just by sitting down and saying I would like this to go in the lower limit as it sounds like it should never be changed and this other thing to go in the higher limit as it's something I would quite like to change?
A clarification would be helpful
Thanks
Salaam
ReplyDeleteGood question!
He considers almost all of the rules provided in the Qur'an as limits (because of the verses of the Qur'an and his understanding of how to understand the Qur'an). Because any rule in the Qur'an has a reason, that can only be considered a law in a specific situation, and therefore should be considered a limit unless otherwise proven.
The only exception is when it is so specific that it cannot be a limit.
Example of limit: For example, when the Qur'an talks about inheritance, it says that men get twice as women. This is in a specific situation (and it is perhaps clearer when we look at polygamy). Therefore, it makes sense (in his view) to say that if the woman is the main person who looks after the man, then she would get twice the man....
Example of not limit: For the example of zina in 24:2 (“the adulterer and the adulteress, scourge each one of them with a hundred lashes. And let not pity for the twain withhold you from obedience to God…”). Here Allah insists that the adulterers should not be pitied in the Qur'an and that people should watch, signifying the punishment should not be mitigated.....
It is not arbitrary to choose which one. It is more that the assumption is that it is a limit unless you can show the opposite...