Formulation of the claim
Al-`Amiri demonstrates the supremacy of Islam through presuppositions and set phrases.
Explanation
This claim refers to a way of presenting Islam that begins by presuming its superiority, then reinforces that presumption with inherited formulae used as ready-made proofs. In this part of Arkoun’s thought, presuppositions are not understood as historical or critical analysis, but as a formulation that states the conclusion before examining its conditions.
The claim also reveals a tendency to fix meaning through repetition rather than by dismantling the foundations on which the discourse rests. For that reason, the inherited sayings appear here as a means of persuading the reader of Islam’s supremacy, more than as an entry point for questioning or explaining that supremacy.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom falls within Arkoun’s critique of discourses that turn religion into a set of closed presuppositions and replace historical analysis with declarative expressions endowed with symbolic authority. It comes close to the theses in which Arkoun opposes closed foundationalism when glorification becomes a substitute for understanding, and citation becomes a means of closing debate rather than opening it.
Limits of the claim
This does not mean that every discussion of Islam’s virtue in al-`Amiri amounts to complete closure or to a total absence of any cognitive dimension; rather, it describes a specific mode of argument within the text. Nor should the atom be taken as an all-encompassing judgment on all forms of religiosity or on every use of inherited sayings.