Formulation of the claim
The Qur’an possesses an exceptional symbolic and metaphorical power.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that the Qur’an has a special capacity to generate meaning through symbol and metaphor, not through straightforward assertion alone. This capacity gives it a semantic density that makes facts and historical events amenable to being formulated in images with a religious and present effect.
The later Islamic discourse does not share this power to the same degree, because its transition into reception and interpretation alters the way the text is worked upon. This is why this power remains tied to the Qur’an’s own specificity at the level of its linguistic and semantic construction.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s reading of the Qur’an as a foundational text that possesses symbolic possibilities that go beyond direct declarative use. It supports his broader thesis distinguishing the original power of the text from the interpretations and fixations that later accumulated around it in subsequent discourses.
Limits of the claim
This does not mean that every verse is to be understood outside its context, or that the Qur’an is reduced to symbolic language alone. Nor does it mean that later Islamic discourse is devoid of symbolism; rather, the intended point is a difference in degree and function.