This path brings together three layers that intersect in Arkoun’s understanding of religion: the imaginary, memory, and symbol. Through them, it becomes clear that meaning is not grasped from the text alone; it is also formed in modes of reception, in the images and representations preserved by the community, and in the relations that symbol establishes between the sacred and historical experience.
This path appears clearly in The Human Construction of Islam, where religion is tied to its historical and social formation, and memory and the imaginary enter into the explanation of how religious presence takes shape within the community. It also emerges in When Islam Awakens, where the imaginary meets the questions of the present, interpretation, and secularization, and becomes part of understanding the relationship between religion and reality.
The path also appears in Readings in the Qur’an, where the text is inseparable from reception and history, and symbol takes its place within the movement of meaning in the community. From here, the link between memory and what becomes fixed in consciousness becomes clear, as does the link between the imaginary and the reshaping of significance, and the link between symbol and the way religious discourse is connected to its social experience.