Formulation of the claim
The domination of consensus and the jurists in the Islamic tradition contributes to defining what becomes thinkable, and pushes many historical issues into the domain of the unthought.
Explanation
What is understood from this passage is that the authority of consensus, when coupled with the position of the jurists, does not merely regulate religious discourse, but also draws the boundaries of what thought is allowed to address. In this sense, the “thinkable” is formed within a narrow framework, while many historical issues remain outside critical discussion, that is, within the “the unthought”.
Its place in the book’s argument
This idea serves Arkoun’s broader argument in critiquing the mechanisms by which religious knowledge is formed; it shows that what appears self-evident or stable in the tradition did not arise from nothing, but through a normative authority that had already determined the permissible field of questioning and the field of silence.
What the atom does not say
This formulation does not spell out specific historical examples, nor does it explain how consensus was formed in each period; rather, it focuses on its effect in producing the boundaries of thought.
Brief evidence passage
First, what a person necessarily acquires is what he must acquire in order to think, speak, and act in everyday life. Second, the concept of the legally responsible person in Islamic jurisprudence emerges from the teachings of the Qur’an before the responsible individual. Third, any violation of that cannot be dismissed without provoking a reaction from the entire community, because it ties its identity to the body of knowledge recorded in the Book of Itqan, knowledge that is internalized by every believer as a psychological and ritual garment.
Nearby links
Islamic Thought: Critique and Ijtihad, Where Is Contemporary Islamic Thought?