The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
For Mohammed Arkoun, the Qur’anic phenomenon is the Qur’an as an open primary discourse, distinct from the Islamic phenomenon that historically took shape around it. This distinction prevents confusion between revelation in its original horizon and what accumulated afterward in the form of interpretations, authorities, and institutional formulations.
In this book, the Qur’anic phenomenon is understood through its internal history and through its capacity to open a spiritual and human horizon, not by reducing it to the form it eventually assumed within historical Islam. The concept is therefore also tied to the idea that the original Qur’anic discourse dramatizes faith, elevates the human being, and establishes a spiritual relationship grounded in prayer and good works.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This concept serves the book’s central argument: that the Islamic phenomenon is not the same as the Qur’anic phenomenon. The Qur’an comes first in its religious and historical significance, but it cannot be reduced to what it later became in the form of systems, doctrines, and modes of closure.
From here comes the importance of distinguishing historically between faith and Islam, and between the historical interweaving that is not the same as a simple succession. The author shows that historical Islam was formed through the appropriation of the Qur’an and the diversity of belief, and that Islamic discourse itself took shape historically and then became closed. In this sense, the concept becomes an entry point for understanding how the text moved from its original openness to later interpretive and institutional forms.
How It Works within the Atlas
Within the atlas, this concept works as a link between the critical reading of the religious text and the analysis of the historical formation of Islamic concepts. It is directly connected to the idea of bringing the Qur’anic phenomenon out of its isolation, and to the scientific reading of the religious text, which requires freeing it from reductive Orientalism.
It is also connected to a cluster of neighboring issues: the openness of Qur’anic discourse versus the closure of orthodoxy, the historicity of basic Islamic concepts, and post-prophecy as a human domain that has no intrinsic sanctity. The concept therefore functions not merely as an abstract definition, but as an organizing tool for distinguishing between the Qur’an as an initial horizon and historical Islam as a later, multilayered formation.
Nearby Pages
- The Qur’anic phenomenon differs from the Islamic phenomenon
- Distinguishing between the Qur’anic and Islamic phenomena
- Bringing the Qur’anic phenomenon out of its isolation
- The Qur’an is understood through its internal history
- The scientific reading of the religious text requires bringing it out of isolation and freeing it from reductive Orientalism