Formulation of the claim
The usual meaning of the expression «the wondrous, captivating» does not suit the Qur’anic text.
Explanation
Arkoun wants to draw attention to the fact that transferring concepts into the Qur’an as they have settled in common usage may lead to misunderstanding it. A word, once loaded with its received meaning, is no longer sufficient to capture its significance within the Qur’anic system itself.
At this point, the issue is not merely a linguistic observation, but a limit imposed by the difference in the semantic field in which the Qur’an moves. Arkoun therefore calls for caution against imposing a ready-made meaning on a term that derives its value from its own specific context.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom belongs to Arkoun’s broader effort to deconstruct inherited meanings through which religious texts are read from the outside. It comes close to his theses concerning the need to distinguish between the common usage of concepts and their meanings within the Qur’an, so that the text is not reduced to a later interpretive language.
Limits of the claim
This atom does not mean that the word is wholly unsuitable when speaking about the Qur’an, but rather that its customary formulation is not sufficient on its own. Nor should it be taken as a sweeping judgment on all the possible meanings of the word outside this context.