The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
For Arkoun, Islamic discourse is the later formation of the Qur’an within history, not the Qur’an itself. It appears as a discourse that redirects the text, turning it at times into a legislative, political, or ideological instrument, far from its original symbolic force.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
The concept serves the book’s central argument by distinguishing Qur’anic discourse as a foundational discourse from the readings and uses that accumulated around it later. It therefore appears in direct relation to the claim that Qur’anic discourse is distinct from later Islamic discourse, and with the emphasis that Qur’anic discourse differs from Islamic discourse. It is also linked to the idea of the symbolic force of the Qur’an, and to the claim that the Qur’an is a foundational symbolic discourse whose reception changes and is subject to restriction and instrumentalization, that is, its historical reception may constrain or employ it.
How It Works Within the Atlas
Within the atlas, this concept functions as a link between the Qur’an as a foundational text and the historical patterns of its use. It explains how meaning shifts from an open symbolic level to a more regulated level within political and legislative uses. From here, it is also connected to the concept of the mobilization of scholastic jihad, and to the distinction between the language of social mobilization and the language of schooling in resistance mobilization requires a social language, not a scholastic discourse.