Formulation of the claim
The Qur’anic narratives need historical criticism that distinguishes between their original elements and what was added to them through confusion, omission, and later additions.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that the study of Qur’anic narratives is not complete if they are taken in their circulating form as a closed, final given. What is required, in his view, is a reading that reveals how the narrative was formed, and what kind of construction and formulation it underwent within the history of reception and transmission.
This historical criticism makes Qur’anic narratives a field for examination, not for quick assent. The issue is not to negate the religious meaning of the narratives, but to return it to the conditions of its historical formation and to the layers of discourse that accumulated around it.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom comes within Arkoun’s direction in the book Readings in the Qur’an toward subjecting Qur’anic materials to historical-critical study, instead of settling for traditional exegetical reading. It converges with his broader theses about the need to deconstruct the inherited culture of reading and reopen the questions that were closed in the name of certainty.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be burdened with a final judgment on the faith value of the Qur’anic narratives, nor turned into a denial of their religious content. Nor does it mean adopting a historicism that reduces the text to its temporal dimension alone.
Brief evidence
Page 174
Regis says, as Blachère does, that there are only conjectures about the conditions and circumstances in which the text was fixed. Thirdly, we note that verses 27 to 59 do not belong to the later narrative nor to the earlier one (verses 60 to 98), except through signs of shared speech and recurring themes throughout the entire Qur’anic discourse. As for the first verses, 1 to 8, they repeat themes mentioned earlier, as we noted, namely the general Qur’anic proclamation addressed sometimes directly to the Prophet, and at other times through him to others, believers and unbelievers alike. And in the set of relevant verses, we discover here a core made up of verses 12–32.
Related links
- Readings in the Qur’an
- Arkoun
- Qur’anic narratives