Formulation of the Claim
The astonishing marvellous is a fundamental element in Qur’anic religious consciousness.
Explanation
Arkoun sees the marvellous not as a marginal element, but as one of the foundations through which Qur’anic religious consciousness is formed. He links it to religious language, which is closer to poetic logic than to rational logic.
He also understands this marvellous as part of the way the religious is present in the Qur’an, not merely as stylistic ornament or a passing rhetorical effect. Its meaning in Arkoun, therefore, is connected to the structure of religious discourse itself, and to the way it is received within the Qur’anic field.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom comes within Arkoun’s reading of the Qur’an as a discourse that operates on multiple levels, including the linguistic, symbolic, and affective. It supports his thesis, which is close to a critique of reducing the religious text to direct meaning alone, because its structure contains elements that go beyond purely rational statement.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be burdened with more than it says: it does not make the marvellous the sole origin of religion, nor does it reduce all religious consciousness to the astonishing dimension. Nor does it mean that the Qur’an is a poetic text in the purely literary sense; rather, it points to the proximity of some of its language to this horizon.
Brief Evidence
Thirdly, the question that presents itself is: how does the created being speak about itself? The type of attributes or language that leads to spiritual contemplation, desire, and holiness.
We will not be able to speak of the presence of the astonishing marvellous in the Qur’an unless we abandon every narrow reductive definition of this concept. Why do we say this? Because we shall search in vain in “the Book of God” for a gratuitous, entertaining, imaginary marvellous wonder.
Even in stories of a high literary level, such as Surat Yusuf, we find that the narrative remains restrained and directed toward religious foundation, moral refinement, and setting an e
Related Links
- Readings in the Qur’an
- Arkoun