Formulation of the claim
Arkoun links the reopening of ijtihad to a critique of Islamic reason.
Explanation
At this point, the reopening of ijtihad is not presented as an isolated slogan, but as part of a broader re-examination of how reason operates within Islamic culture. Critique of reason thus appears here as the framework that makes ijtihad possible again, rather than as a merely verbal call for revival.
The value of this link lies in shifting ijtihad from the level of juridical repetition to the level of questioning the tools and standards that govern understanding and interpretation. The aim is not so much to add a new ruling as to open space for a different way of thinking about the conditions under which meaning is produced.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within the thread that connects Arkoun’s project between criticism of the traditional mental structure and the need to renew the tools of reading within Islam. It also aligns with his theses in more than one place when he makes the questioning of reason a condition for understanding the historicity of religious utterance and the limits of the operation of inherited knowledge.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be burdened with a technical conception of ijtihad or reduced to a limited juridical reform. Nor is it sufficient on its own to summarize Arkoun’s entire project, since it points to one link in a broader critique of reason, tradition, and epistemic institutions.