Equitable law part one

This week they're talking about verses 2:178-182. They seem to have given up spelling this out, but it tells you if you check back to the weekly plan. The part one in the title refers to mine, not his.

And once more we're back on the same question, which Sardar phrases like this. The test for those who aspire to become a middle community is to distinguish between the circumstantial, that which is specific to a particular time and place and the general principle which will always be applicable but which needs to find the appropriate form to serve the needs of another time and place.

In other words, how do you decide if a Qur'anic edict is aimed purely at Mohammed's audience of the time, or if it's meant to apply to us as well?

It's not a bad question, but Sardar seems reluctant to really address it. Instead of setting up any clear guidelines, he simply chooses. The verses that support his case, at least if they're read the way he wants to read them, are eternal, standing sentinel to God's people on their long journey to the Last Day. The verses that don't are less important, somehow, more relative to their time, more metaphorical.

And sometimes he just plain misrepresents. The Qur'an insists on absolute and total respect for human life - as emphasised in 5:45, 6:151, 17:33, and 25:68, he says. And yet if you check those verses, they clearly endorse the concept of the death penalty, in their reference to just cause.

And in any case, the contents of those verses echo today's extract. Why are those verses absolute and total, when today's extract comes with a date stamp? Because, in some frankly rather limited way, they support his case.

Remember, the fact that these verses contain an ethical element isn't good enough, because the claim isn't that the Qur'an is improving in parts. The claim is that it is perfect, written by God, and in some weird spiritual way extant with God, before the universe was made.

Today's extract from the book of the universe is short, so I'm just going to quote it.

2:178 O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty.
2:179 In the Law of Equality there is (saving of) Life to you, o ye men of understanding; that ye may restrain yourselves.
2:180 It is prescribed, when death approaches any of you, if he leave any goods that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable usage; this is due from the Allah-fearing.
2:181 If anyone changes the bequest after hearing it, the guilt shall be on those who make the change. For Allah hears and knows (All things).
2:182 But if anyone fears partiality or wrong-doing on the part of the testator, and makes peace between (The parties concerned), there is no wrong in him: For Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

It's pre-industrial morality, pure and simple. Sardar says this. The verse "the free for a free" (178) can, of course, be read literally. And leads down the familiar cul de sac Madeleine identifies. But uncritical literalism, the kind that does not reason with the specific and the universal, would be a gross error. He hates it when you point out what the book actually says. There are two principles of equality being advocated here. The first is that the law is to be applied equally to all men and women, free or not: the social status of the murderer or the victim makes no difference. The second is that punishment should be equal to the crime.

Well, no it just doesn't say that. If there's one thing you could never accuse him of, it's uncritical literalism. Or uncritical accuracy, or uncritically embracing any scholarly virtue at all. But then, if you're stuck with a book that's permeated through and through with moral horrors, like for instance a verse which clearly differentiates between the social status of men, women and slaves and requires revenge in the absence of compensation, you're bound to have a pressing need to re-interpret things.

Like this. These verses have moral import and universal implications; we can apply the general principles to our own circumstances. The term "brother" used here to mean the victim's tribal family, could be interpreted to mean society in general.

Well yes, you could, but then you're making up new meanings that aren't in the book. Which is a brilliant idea, but one begins to wonder what work the book is doing for us.

For if the author had intended that, he could very easily have said so. There is no need to use the word brother on its own. The text could have written so as to explicitly establish the role of society as a whole in the prevention of a crime. Instead, it talks about murder as an offense, not against the community, nor against the victim, but against the patriarchal authority figure - the husband, the brother, the slave owner.

Which is hardly surprising, and considering the context it was written in it's not without merit. It's just not - well, perfect.