The Idea
The text holds that sanctification does not inhere in the text of its own accord; rather, it is formed through a historical process that causes the book to move from ordinary reading to a sacred status. This process is not based on linguistic meaning alone, but on an institutional, cultural, and political work that elevates the text and surrounds it with a special aura of reverence. The sacred here is therefore the result of a formation, not a quality given from the beginning.
Condensed Formulation
Sanctification: elevates the text from an ordinary book to a divinely inspired sacred book
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This idea serves the book’s argument by shifting the question from the sanctity of the text as an assumed given to the conditions under which that sanctity is produced. The point is not to strip the text of value, but to understand how it came to have that value within collective consciousness. In this way, the book connects religious history with the history of power and knowledge, and makes the study of the sacred part of understanding the formation of religious discourse itself.
Why It Matters
This idea shows that Arkoun does not merely speak about texts from within, but asks about the ways that made them treated as beyond debate. It matters because it reveals that, for him, the study of Islamic thought begins with understanding how the symbolic status of the text is produced, not with accepting it as already given. This clarifies his critical stance toward inherited assumptions.
Brief Evidence Passage
The text holds that sanctification does not inhere in the text of its own accord; rather, it is formed through a historical process that causes the book to move from ordinary reading to a sacred status. This process is not based on linguistic meaning alone, but on an institutional, cultural, and political work that elevates the text and surrounds it with a special aura of reverence. The sacred here is therefore the result of a formation, not a quality given from the beginning.
Reading Questions
- How does understanding sanctification as a historical process change the way religious texts are read?
- What does investigating the conditions of sanctification add to investigating the meaning of the text itself?
Documentation Level
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.