Transfer of Functions to Human Intermediaries

Formulation of the Claim

Human mediation transfers the functions of interpretation and symbolic authority from God and His messenger to jurists, exegetes, and historians.

Explanation

Arkoun describes this transfer as a concealed ideological deviation, insofar as functions once attributed to God and His messenger are shifted to human intermediaries who undertake interpretation, representation, and reformulation.

Its Place in the Book’s Argument

This formulation appears in the context of a critique of the mechanisms by which religious and epistemic authority is constructed, where the book shows how human mediation is formed within religious discourse and affects both the meaning of the text and the position of authority.

What the Atom Does Not Say

The atom does not go into detail about the names of these intermediaries or the scope of each of their functions, nor does it present this transfer historically or institutionally.

Brief Evidence Passage

As for the believers themselves, we note that they are distributed across hierarchical ranks of varying importance according to the history of their involvement in jihad in the path of God. Those who engaged early are better than those who engaged later, and the earliest Muslims have the advantage. This Qur’anic jihad will continue in later centuries in several forms, and it will be regulated or molded by the jurists, who will draw the religious and theological boundaries separating the abode of Islam from the abode of war. We note that traditional formulae of the type “God, exalted is He, says” open all arguments based on supreme sovereignty and infallible majesty in Islam in order to settle disputes among the same competing and contending groups targeted in Surat al-Tawba. Thus silencing them

Related Links

Where Is Contemporary Islamic Thought?