Formulation of the Claim
The Qur’anic event differs from the Islamic event.
Explanation
In Arkoun’s thought, the revelation of the Qur’an as a founding event is not equated with the formation of Islam as a later historical framework for codification and organization. The former opens a field of meaning and of spiritual and linguistic transformation, whereas the latter is connected to the process of writing down, and to the construction of authority, reference, and institutions.
This distinction prevents reducing the Qur’an to the formulations that became established after it, and reconsiders the relationship between revelation as an event and what religion became in history. Arkoun therefore does not read Islam as a direct and simple extension of the Qur’anic event, but as a historical formation with its own conditions and trajectories.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s thesis that separates the founding text from the history of its reception, writing down, and use in constructing meaning and authority. It is close to his broader effort to dismantle what is usually presented as a natural and direct continuity between the Qur’an and the Islamic institution.
In this sense, the atom helps clarify the place of the Qur’an in Arkoun’s critical project: not as material closed upon a single meaning, but as an event prior to the formation of the frameworks that organized reading, interpretation, and legitimacy within historical Islam.
Limits of the Claim
This claim does not mean denying the connection between the Qur’an and Islam, nor separating them in an absolute way. Nor does it offer a doctrinal judgment on revelation; rather, it describes a difference at the historical and conceptual level between the founding event and the religious and institutional formation that followed it.