Formulation of the claim
Al-Ghazali links the pilgrimage to the meanings of death and the Hereafter.
Explanation
Arkoun presents this reading as a shift of the rites from the outward act to the horizon of symbolic meaning. In this view, the pilgrimage is understood not merely as the performance of a ritual, but as an evocation of human destiny and of what lies beside the end: the expectation of resurrection and hope.
For Arkoun, this significance is connected to a broader understanding of the rites, in which actions and postures are read as concentrated signs of the final human experience. The pilgrimage thus becomes a field where worship intersects with reflection on death and the Hereafter.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom appears among the passages that highlight the shift from juristic or ritual description to a semantic reading of worship. It also aligns with Arkoun’s interest in revealing the symbolic layers in texts and interpretations, especially when they concern the major rites and their meaning in religious consciousness.
Limits of the claim
This does not mean that the pilgrimage is reduced to the meanings of death and the Hereafter alone, nor that this reading cancels the other spiritual and practical dimensions of the rites.
Brief evidence passage
The text presents an Al-Ghazalian reading that makes the rites a symbolic image of the human journey toward extinction and resurrection. The pilgrimage is understood not merely as the performance of a ritual, but as an evocation of human destiny and of what lies beside the end: the expectation of resurrection and hope. In this way, the act moves from its outward form to a broader horizon of meaning.
Nearby links
Pilgrimage · symbolic meaning