Formulation of the claim
Salvationism links faith to an horizon of justice and salvation, and in the Islamic context it finds one of its manifestations in the idea of the Mahdi or the awaited Imam.
Explanation
Arkoun presents salvationism as a tendency that gives faith a meaning extending beyond the present toward hope in justice and a better order. It is not understood here as an abstract conception, but as a religious-historical force that combines hope for salvation with the aspiration to reform the world.
In the Islamic context, this tendency takes a clearer form when it is linked to the idea of the Mahdi or the awaited Imam. At that point, salvationism becomes tied to waiting for the realization of justice in historical time, not merely to an otherworldly promise detached from collective experience.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s interest in tracing the forms through which the religious imaginary is shaped within Islamic history, and how doctrine connects with collective expectations and political-religious hope. It comes close to his questions about humanism, the historical responsiveness of religious consciousness, and the limits of turning religious promises into complete systems of meaning.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be read as carrying more than the highlighting of the connection between salvationism and the idea of the Mahdi in Arkoun’s horizon. It does not offer a doctrinal judgment on messianism, nor does it reduce Islam to this element alone.