Formulation of the claim
The Qur’an is presented as a text that is difficult for the modern reader to read directly.
Explanation
At this point in Arkoun’s thought, the difficulty no longer stems from language alone, but from the nature of the text as it is presented: a text that departs from the familiar and calls for effort in understanding and interpretation. The contemporary reader therefore seems to face a body of material that does not readily yield a single meaning or a simple reading.
This difficulty is linked to what the text describes as apparent disorder, repetition, and the abundance of mythological, historical, and religious allusions. These features require modern reading to engage with the Qur’an as a dense text with multiple references, rather than as a transparent discourse that yields its meaning at first reading.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within the broader effort to clarify the Qur’an’s place in Arkoun’s project of critical reading. It prepares the ground for understanding the need for analytical tools that go beyond traditional reading, and it is consistent with related theses that hold that the Qur’anic text is not exhausted by direct reception, but remains open to levels of meaning, history, and imagination.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be taken as a judgment on the value of the Qur’an or reduced to mere obscurity; it describes the difficulty of modern reading as Arkoun presents it, and does not deny the possibility of understanding or interpretation.