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180chapter fourMessenger has said: “Lord, my people treat this qur"§n as somethingto be shunned”’ ( Al-Furq§n 25:30; AH).In order to understand the legal message of the Book and thedynamics between its eternal validity and historical temporality, it isnecessary to introduce two contradictory yet complementary conceptsthat form the basis of our theory of limits. These are ‘straightness’( al-istiq§ma) and ‘curvature’ ( al-ÈanÊfiyya): they represent theinternal dialectics of human life between the constant acquisition ofnew knowledge, leading to social and economic changes, on the onehand, and on the other, the introduction of new legislation as aproactive response to these changes and developments. We believethat the two concepts of ‘straightness’ and ‘curvature’ allow the fullrecognition of such dialectical dynamics without which no true contemporaryunderstanding of Islamic law can ever be achieved.Let us first look at the verses in which the terms occur.‘Straightness’Show us the straight way [ al-ßir§ã al-mustaqÊm]. ( Al-F§tiÈa, 1:6)Say: “Verily, my Lord has guided me to a way that is straight [ßir§ãmustaqÊm]—a religion of right—the path (trod) by Abraham the true infaith, and he (certainly) joined not gods with God.” ( Al-An#§m 6:161)Verily, this is my way, leading straight [ßir§ãÊ mustaqÊm an ]: follow it; follownot (other) paths, they will scatter you about from His (great) path:thus does He command you, that you may be righteous. ( Al-An#§m6:153)And We guided them to the straight way [ al-ßir§ã al-mustaqÊm]. ( Al-‘§ff§t37:118)We find in these verses the concept of ‘straightness’ in the form ofthe adjective mustaqÊm. Both noun and adjective are derived from theArabic root q-w-m which can mean two things: 1) a collective bodyof men, that is, ‘crowd’, which basically functions like the plural imra"(men), or 2) a reference to either intaßaba (to erect/set up/right) or#aíama (to determine/resolve/firmly intend). The concept of ‘straightness’is derived from the root meaning of intaßaba and means ‘to putsomething right that has strayed’, and the qur"anic notion of al-isl§mas the ‘correct or true religion’ ( al-dÊn al-qayyim) is also defined by thesecond meaning of #aíama (strength); 3 hence the notion of ‘straight’3It is not quite clear from where this second meaning is derived; #aíama means‘majesty’, ‘exaltedness’, and since it is an attribute of God it is not used to describe a