Formulation of the Claim
After the Prophet’s death, the Qur’an and Muhammad’s model became the highest reference for political and religious legitimacy.
Explanation
Arkoun links the question of legitimacy to what happened immediately after the death, when the community moved toward seeking a basis that would regulate authority and confer acceptance upon it. In this context, legitimacy is no longer a purely political matter; rather, it becomes tied to the founding text and to the practical embodiment of the Prophet’s person.
This shift appears as part of the formation of the first Islamic referential framework, where the need for governance became intertwined with the need to rely on what is considered a higher origin. For this reason, the Qur’an and Muhammad’s model become two inseparable standards in understanding legitimacy after revelation had ceased.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s thesis on the historical formation of Islam through the first foundational moments, not as a system complete from the outset, but as a field in which referents and authorities gradually took shape. It is close to the atoms that address the debate over authority, the transition from prophecy to political management, and how the founding origin was used to organize disagreement and acceptance.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be loaded with a detailed judgment on all the events of the Saqifa or on the later history of the caliphate; it points to the principle of legitimacy as Arkoun presents it in the post-death moment, not to a comprehensive historical account of all its developments.