Formulation of the Claim
Arkoun clearly distinguishes between the Qur’anic event and the Islamic event.
Explanation
This distinction makes the Qur’an a foundational event in its own right, with its own energy and significance, not merely a prelude to later Islamic history. The point is that the Qur’anic text is to be understood within its own horizon, before being reduced to its historical uses and to the subsequent formation of meaning and institutions.
From this perspective, the emergence of the Qur’an does not coincide with what later became established as historical Islam. Arkoun therefore separates the moment of revelation or foundation from the path subsequently taken by the community, institutions, and discourses, without thereby severing the connection between them.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s attempt to reopen the history that surrounded the Qur’an, so that the text is not read as material whose meaning was complete from the outset, but rather as an event with a history of reception and transformation. It converges with the book’s theses, which seek to distinguish levels of discourse: the level of the founding event, and the level of later recording, interpretation, and codification.
Limits of the Claim
This atom does not imply a sharp separation between the Qur’an and Islam, nor does it deny the text’s influence in the formation of historical Islam. Nor does it offer a final judgment on the validity or invalidity of either of the two events; rather, it points to the difference in level between them.