Formulation of the claim
Arkoun holds that the fundamental structure of the Qur’anic text is dialogical.
Explanation
Arkoun understands the Qur’an as a text that takes shape through an addressed and answered discourse, not as a static accumulation of meaning. Dialogue here is therefore not a stylistic ornament, but a structural element in the way Qur’anic discourse appears and produces significance.
This means that meaning is not reduced to closed, final propositions, but emerges within a movement of address, response, and calling. In this way, in his reading, the Qur’an enters a broader horizon that makes the relationship between discourse and recipient part of the constitution of the text.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom appears in the context of Arkoun’s theses that reconsider how the Qur’anic text should be understood from within, by focusing on its structure and discourse rather than limiting ourselves to later interpretive readings. It also aligns with his interest in highlighting the rhetorical and pragmatic features of the text, within a broader critical project that reads the Qur’an in the history of its formation and its practical meaning.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be taken to mean that the Qur’an is merely human dialogue or that it loses its religious character. Nor is it sufficient on its own to summarize Arkoun’s full position on revelation or on the history of interpretation.