Formulating the Claim
Arkoun sees the transmission of the sacred as passing through four successive stages that together make up the history of its formation and transmission.
Explanation
The sequence begins with the founding event, then moves to the witnesses of transmission, then to codification or oral and written transmission, and finally reaches interpretive readings and the conflict surrounding them. In this way, Arkoun links the original event to the later history of interpretation, so that the sacred no longer remains a self-evident presence outside the conditions of its transmission.
These stages indicate that, for Arkoun, the sacred is not understood as a static truth, but as the trace of a historical sequence in which witnessing, codification, and interpretation overlap. The very process of transmission thus becomes part of understanding sacrality and the forms of fixation or divergence that befall it.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This idea appears within Arkoun’s attempt to understand the formation of the sacred within history, not as a fixed given, but as the result of a long process of transmission, codification, and interpretation. It belongs to his broader orientation, which links the emergence of texts with the interpretive authority that later surrounded them.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be burdened with more than it says; it does not detail each stage separately, nor does it offer a comprehensive history of all forms of transmission. Rather, it suffices to highlight the general structure that Arkoun proposes for understanding the transmission of the sacred.
Brief Evidence Passage
the founding event, then the witnesses of transmission, then codification
the system by which societies produce the book/the sacred through four interconnected stages
Related Links
Arkoun Readings in the Qur’an