Formulation of the claim
Ali is presented as the model of the just imam among some Muslims.
Explanation
This claim refers to Ali’s place in the religious imaginary as the supreme symbolic model of the ruler who combines legitimacy and justice. In this context, Ali is mentioned not merely as a historical figure, but as a reference around which the image of the imam is concentrated, an imam who is expected to embody uprightness and fairness.
Within Arkoun’s thought, this image is connected to the way political and religious symbols are formed in Islam, where certain figures become normative references whose significance extends beyond biography. The value here therefore lies not only in historical designation, but in what Ali came to signify as a symbolic function within the collective consciousness of some Muslims.
Its place in the book’s argument
This claim falls within the discussion of ideal representations of authority in Islam, and of how models of legitimacy are constructed around specific figures. It is close to theses showing that religious memory does not merely preserve events, but reshapes them into supreme examples used to judge the present.
Limits of the claim
This claim does not mean that all Muslims view Ali in the same way, nor does it erase the complexity of his historical personality or the plurality of interpretations surrounding him. Nor should it be taken as anything more than a description of his symbolic place in some religious representations.