Formulation of the Claim
The codex is a closed official corpus.
Explanation
the Qur’an is not presented here as merely a set of scattered texts, but as a form that was officially stabilized in a final shape. This means that it became a regulated reference to which nothing is added and from which nothing is subtracted after the completion of its inscription.
This description draws attention to the status of the text after the initial stage of reception, when it enters a system of collection and stabilization that distinguishes it from its earlier stages. In Arkoun’s thought, the importance of this formulation lies in its indication that the text was transformed into an authorized corpus, not into material open to further completion.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom serves a line of argument that distinguishes between what became officially stabilized in the text and the earlier forms of circulation and inscription. It is connected to the book’s argument when it discusses the Qur’an in relation to the history of its formation, rather than as a datum isolated from the processes of stabilization that accompanied its emergence.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be understood as a complete historical account of the process of collection, nor as a description of all the earlier stages of transmission. It says no more than that the text is fixed in its authorized form.