Formulation of the Claim
The heart is the central organ of cognition in the Qur’an.
Explanation
Arkoun links the heart to faith, covenant, and reception, making cognition tied to the human being’s affective and spiritual mode of receiving, not to abstract mental calculation. In this framework, Qur’anic understanding is not a cognitive act detached from inner experience, but an apprehension that is first realized in the heart.
This means that the center of understanding in the Qur’anic conception is not reason in its later sense, but the heart as a site that brings together consciousness, feeling, and acceptance. With this formulation, Arkoun shows the difference between the semantic structure of knowledge in the Qur’anic text and the philosophical or theological conceptions that would crystallize later.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom belongs to Arkoun’s attempt to reread Qur’anic vocabulary within its original semantic horizon, before it was burdened with later meanings from Islamic intellectual history. It serves his broader thesis, which distinguishes between the language of the first revelation and the modes of understanding shaped by later schools, including the shift of the center of cognition from the heart to abstract reason.
Limits of the Claim
This atom should not be taken to mean more than it says: it does not deny the role of reason in Islamic thought, nor does it claim that the Qur’an presents a fully developed psychological theory. The aim is to determine the locus of cognition in the language of the text itself, not to pass a sweeping judgment on the entire Islamic tradition.