Formulation of the Claim
The principles of human rights and citizenship can replace the old sharia as a normative reference for organizing the public sphere.
Explanation
Arkoun’s critique of tradition opens up the possibility of moving beyond the old sharia in favor of the principles of human rights and citizenship. He presents this shift as the outcome of understanding the historicity of tradition—not as an arbitrary break with it, but as a transfer in authority that takes into account the conditions of understanding and legislation in the modern age.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This idea appears at the point of transition from historical critique to the normative horizon; the issue is not merely to describe tradition, but to know what can stand in its place in the modern public sphere, and how this is linked to rebuilding the relationship between text, history, and shared life.
What the Atom Does Not Say
It does not call for denying religious authority in itself, nor does it reduce human rights to a slogan detached from the history of texts; rather, it links the alternative to changing conditions of understanding and legislation, and to the possibility of a new civic horizon without erasing the question of meaning.