Formulating the claim
Al-Itqan fi ʿUlum al-Qur’an brings together classified traditional knowledge in an encyclopedic school-style form.
Explanation
Arkoun presents «al-Itqan» as a work of compilation and classification more than a work of invention. Its central value lies not in producing new knowledge, but in preserving traditional material and arranging it within an all-encompassing structure.
This means that al-Suyuti represents a mode of authorship that makes knowledge accumulation itself the object of presentation and organization. Encyclopedism thus appears here as a way of encompassing the inherited tradition and re-presenting it in a single order.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom belongs within Arkoun’s reading of traditional modes of scholarship that give priority to gathering and systematization. It supports his idea that many classical works perform the function of preservation and arrangement more than they push knowledge toward a new critical horizon.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be taken as a final judgment on al-Suyuti’s scholarly value, nor should his book be reduced to mere transmission. It describes a mode of authorship as Arkoun reads it, not all the dimensions of al-Suyuti’s project nor all the functions of «al-Itqan».