Mohamad Nabi Ahmadi; Mahdi Poorazar
Abstract
Mohammad Shahrour’s Quranic research project seeks to establish an interaction between the Quran and human knowledge and mentality, and to separate the Quranic understanding from ...
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Mohammad Shahrour’s Quranic research project seeks to establish an interaction between the Quran and human knowledge and mentality, and to separate the Quranic understanding from the boundaries of past readings and interpretations, which sometimes take on an aura of holiness and avoidance of criticism. The subject of inheritance and division of the deceased’s estate is stated in verse eleven of Surah An-Nisa. The understanding of the Quranic commentators and Muslims of this verse is based on the premise that the share of a son’s inheritance is twice as that of a daughter’s. But Mohammad Shahrour’s method of Quranic study, which is generally based on the analysis of linguistic signs in the context of the interpretation of the Quran, reveals a new and different understanding of this verse. According to this understanding, firstly, the verse is applied where the children of the deceased are a combination of daughters and sons. Secondly, there are three scenarios for the formula for dividing the inheritance, and only in one case is the share of inheritance of sons twice as the share of inheritance of daughters. This means that, firstly, we have two sets in the division of inheritance called the set of sons and the set of daughters, and if the children of the deceased are all daughters or all sons, the inheritance is divided equally among them. Secondly, the share of individuals in inheritance depends on the number of members of the female group and its ratio to the male group, for which the Quranic text has set three limits. Shahrour’s attitude in the field of Quranic studies, on the one hand, breaks down traditional thinking in this field, and on the other hand, states constructive solutions to solve the problems and challenges of advancing Quranic understanding.
