The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
For Mohammed Arkoun, the Islamic phenomenon is not the Qur’an itself, but what historically took shape in the form of doctrines, jurisprudence, orthodoxies, and official texts. The concept is therefore tied, in his thought, to the historical appropriation of the Qur’anic text and to its insertion into later human and institutional constructions.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This concept serves the book’s central argument: that the Qur’anic phenomenon differs from the Islamic phenomenon, and that what comes after prophecy is a human domain with no intrinsic sanctity. Hence the call to distinguish the Qur’an as a spiritual horizon from historical Islam as systems and categories formed later.
How It Works Within the Atlas
The concept functions as a link between discussion of the Qur’anic text and criticism of the formation of the Islamic tradition. It shows that historical Islam was formed through the appropriation of the Qur’an and the diversity of belief, and that doctrines and jurisprudence did not appear all at once, but within a historical interweaving rather than simple sequence. In this sense, the concept helps explain why it is not enough to look at Islam through the Qur’an alone, nor at the Qur’an only through its later history.
Related Pages
- The Islamic phenomenon is not Qur’anic
- The Qur’anic phenomenon differs from the Islamic phenomenon
- The Qur’an opens a spiritual horizon, and historical Islam turns it into systems
- Historical Islam was formed through the appropriation of the Qur’an and the diversity of belief
- The impossibility of grounding requires a historical critique of Islamic reason and modernity