Seeds of Rationality and Awe in the Qur'an

Formulation of the claim

In the Qur’an there are seeds of rationality that are bound up with awe before God’s creation.

Explanation

Arkoun presents this meaning as part of the Qur’an’s original horizon: rationality here does not appear in the form of an independent theoretical system, but in its association with astonishment before creation. For that reason, reason in this atom is not understood as separate from religious experience, but as moving within it and open to wonder.

Nor do these seeds imply a philosophical completion, but rather a primary potential nourished by contemplation of the world and the signs. Hence awe is not the opposite of reason, but the climate in which it emerges in this context.

Its place in the book’s argument

This atom appears in the context of highlighting what distinguishes Arkoun’s approach to the Qur’an: searching for the possibilities of thought latent within it before they are hemmed in by later readings or closed doctrinal frameworks. It converges with the book’s theses, which return to the Qur’anic text as a driving force toward understanding, not merely reception or compliance.

Limits of the claim

This atom should not be taken to mean that the Qur’an offers a complete rational theory or a modern rationality in the later philosophical sense. Nor does it mean that awe alone is enough to produce knowledge; rather, the atom remains confined to describing an initial relationship between wonder and the beginnings of thought.

Brief witness

Allow me to make a few observations that are not general, but which may shed light on what Guimariy said from the outset about awe, admiration, amazement, and the miracle. It should be known that the verb ʿajiba in the Qur’an means “astonishment before an extraordinary, unusual event, one that is hardly believable or even seems unreasonable,” as I said, Mr. Arkoun. We find that the three adjectives, ʿajjāb, ʿajīb, and ʿajab, mean at once the astonishing thing, the sudden thing, and sometimes the marvels of nature. Here one must be precise: the astonishing thing is not necessarily the dazzling, splendid, or miraculous thing. There are three uses of the word ʿajab in the Qur’an, but you did not point them out, and they seem important to me.

Nearby links

• Readings in the Qur’an