Formulation of the claim
Marvels in creation are called signs in the Qur’an, not merely wondrous things.
Explanation
The text indicates that the Qur’an chooses the word sign to describe the astonishing manifestations of creation, rather than relying on derivatives of wonder. In this way, these manifestations become signs of divine meaning, not merely events that provoke amazement.
This linguistic choice accords with Arkoun’s reading of the Qur’an as a text that constructs meaning through indication and signification, not through arousing emotion alone. Thus, “sign” here opens onto a meaning that goes beyond surprise toward reflection and interpretation.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s concern with how Qur’anic discourse works through signifying words, and how it redirects attention from the surface of admiration toward the horizon of meaning. It also aligns with the book’s theses that track Qur’anic vocabulary in its relation to shaping a worldview.
It is also connected to a broader context in the book that distinguishes between a reading content with impression and a reading that follows the semantic structure of Qur’anic concepts. From here comes the importance of the word sign within the argument, because it shows how an astonishing phenomenon becomes an intelligible sign.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be pressed beyond what it says: it concerns a lexical and semantic choice in the Qur’an, not a restriction of the meaning of marvels to a single dimension, nor a denial of any other use of wonder in language.