Formulation of the Claim
Al-Tawhidi cannot be reduced to the label of «the pure Sufi», because, in Arkoun’s view, he moves within an interplay of literature, spiritual contemplation, and multiple intellectual positions.
Explanation
Arkoun uses al-Tawhidi as an example of the difficulty of reducing major figures to a single category. The presence of a Sufi dimension in him does not cancel out the literary writing and intellectual sensibility that accompany it and are tied to his historical context; therefore, describing him with a single label becomes a form of simplification.
What is meant here is not a denial of his connection to Sufism, but rather a refusal to turn that connection into a complete definition of him. In Arkoun’s reading, al-Tawhidi is evidence that Arab-Islamic culture produced figures in whom different fields intersected, and who can only be understood through that interweaving.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom serves the book’s broader argument by resisting definitive classifications and closed divisions. Al-Tawhidi is invoked as an example of the intertwining of the literary, the philosophical, and the spiritual, which aligns with Arkoun’s wider aim of revealing the complexity of tradition rather than reducing it to pure identities.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be taken to mean a wholesale denial of the Sufi dimension in al-Tawhidi, nor should it be turned into a categorical judgment about his intellectual standing. It stands only against reducing him to a single, closed definition.