Formulation of the Claim
The official recording of Qur’anic expressions represents the transition of Qur’anic discourse from the oral sphere to the written sphere.
Explanation
Arkoun holds that this transformation was not merely the fixing of the text, but a decisive moment in the formation of the corpus that would become the official reference for Qur’anic expressions. The issue is connected to a change in the very nature of circulation: from a circulating utterance to a written formulation that regulates and determines meaning.
This claim gains its importance from the fact that it draws attention to how officiality is inseparable from the process of recording, and how the transfer of discourse into writing contributed to forming a new framework for understanding the text and engaging with it within Islamic history.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s broader thesis, which traces the historical formation of Islam through the major turning points in the production and circulation of religious knowledge. It is connected to what the book presents about the emergence of the referential corpus, and about the relationship between orality and writing in the construction of textual authority.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be made to bear a final judgment on the value of the oral, nor a precise historical account of all the stages of collection and recording; it points primarily to the meaning of the transformation itself and to its effect on the formation of the official corpus.