Formulation of the Claim
Arkoun holds that the Qur’an should be read as an integrated whole, not understood by fragmenting its texts into separate parts.
Explanation
In this view, Qur’anic meaning is not confined to isolated passages, because fragmenting the text weakens the capacity to grasp its overall structure. Arkoun therefore links sound understanding to a reading that takes into account the Qur’an’s internal coherence.
The importance of this position lies in the fact that it directs attention to the whole before the part, and to the relationships between verses and the text’s overall context. Unity here is not a slogan but a method of understanding that prevents a piecemeal reading.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s approach to the Qur’an as a text that requires a reading beyond segmentation and fragmentation. It is close to positions that emphasize criticism of prevailing reading methods when they separate the text’s elements and lose its semantic coherence.
Limits of the Claim
This claim does not mean abolishing differences between passages or denying the diversity of levels of discourse in the Qur’an; rather, it only specifies that this diversity should be understood within a broader unity of the text.
Brief Evidence
It is fought as something rational, but as something irrational enough, or as something superficially rational. I think this is the meaning of the frequently recurring admonitory phrase in the Qur’an: do you not reason? In the end, despite everything, we find that the balance in the Qur’an tilts toward the side of thinking force or rational knowledge. Thirdly: as for the necessity of reading the Qur’an as a whole, or as a coherent total unity from beginning to end, I find that you are right to draw attention to that. This is consistent with the reading of the believing Muslim community in general. The Qur’anic text should be taken in its entirety and thought about as a whole, but this should not prevent us from analyzing the text and reading it on the basis that it offers answers to the questions and needs of the early community
Related Links
- Arkoun