Idea
This claim indicates that the meaning of Islam did not remain fixed in historical usage, but moved from a spiritual sense to a collective sense associated with defending the community. This does not mean abolishing the first meaning; rather, it means that religious language is used within political and social situations that redirect it. Thus, a single term comes to carry layers of meaning according to time and context.
Concise Formulation
Meaning of Islam: transformed from submission to defense of the community
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim serves the book’s argument by showing that religious concepts cannot be understood apart from their practical history. Instead of searching for a ready-made single meaning, the text calls for tracing the transformation that affects words when they enter into struggles over the community and its representations. Here, history becomes part of interpreting the concept, not merely its background.
Why It Matters
The importance of the claim lies in that it prevents the reader from treating Islam as a simple or rigid meaning. It also helps explain that Arkoun looks at the major terms of religion through the lens of their formation within history, not through the lens of a final definition that does not change.
Brief Evidence Passage
This claim indicates that the meaning of Islam did not remain fixed in historical usage, but moved from a spiritual sense to a collective sense associated with defending the community. This does not mean abolishing the first meaning; rather, it means that religious language is used within political and social situations that redirect it. Thus, a single term comes to carry layers of meaning.
Reading Questions
- What effect does history have on changing the meaning of major religious terms?
- How does this approach distinguish between the spiritual and collective meanings of Islam?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.