Formulation of the Claim
Understanding the Qur’an requires taking metaphor seriously, not reducing it to a single literal meaning.
Explanation
Arkoun calls for moving beyond a schoolbook literal reading that confines the text to direct denotation and neglects its metaphorical power. In the Qur’an, metaphor is not ornament but part of the way it speaks; it should therefore not be treated as secondary or marginal.
This claim also warns against turning metaphors into dead formulas that have lost their capacity to generate meaning. Understanding here is thus linked to a constant attentiveness to the multiple levels of Qur’anic discourse and to the possibilities of meaning they open up.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom belongs to Arkoun’s effort to critique modes of reception that have closed the Qur’an within a narrow traditional reading. It aligns with his broader thesis of reopening the text to historical and linguistic tools of understanding that make it possible to perceive its semantic richness rather than reducing it to the surface of the wording.
Limits of the Claim
This atom does not mean that every verse should be detached from its apparent meaning, nor that it advocates an interpretation free of constraints. Its clearer intention is to reject simplification that disables metaphor and prevents it from doing its work in constructing meaning.