Formulation of the Claim
Qur’anic metaphor links older significations to a new symbolic context.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that Qur’anic metaphor is not a secondary rhetorical element, but part of the very construction of meaning. It enables words to be transferred from their familiar horizon into a symbolic horizon in which signification changes according to the Qur’anic context.
From this standpoint, the Qur’an’s vocabulary is not read as words with fixed meanings, because metaphor contributes to reshaping the relationship between the word and what it signifies. This makes Qur’anic meaning mobile within a network of symbols and suggestions, rather than confined within a closed literal meaning.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s concern with reading the Qur’an historically and semantically, revealing how Qur’anic discourse works to produce meaning, not merely to transmit it. It converges with his broader thesis on the need to move beyond a reading that confines the text to verbal directness, in favor of understanding its symbolic structure and its transformations within history.
Limits of the Claim
This atom does not mean that the entire Qur’an is metaphorical, nor that it denies direct meaning in every instance. The point is that metaphor participates in expanding Qur’anic signification and changing its horizon, without reducing the text to a single level of reading.