Pushing the limits – Introduction to the ideas of Mohammed Arkoun

“Pushing the limits”
Introduction to the ideas and methods of Mohammed Arkoun
with special regard to his interpretation of Revelation

by Thomas Schönberger

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Biographical outline 3
3. Epistemological perspective 6
4. Methods and terminology 8
5. Interpretation of Revelation by Mohammed Arkoun 13
5.2. The matter of ‘language’ 13
5.3. Semiotic issues 14
5.4. Imaginaire and the Question of Myth 15
5.5. Discourse analyses 16
5.6. Epistemology 17
5.7. The ultimate meaning and the ‘Societies of the Book’ 18
6. Conclusion 19
7. Bibliography 20

1) Introduction
The Qur’ān has been, and still is, an inexhaustible source of intellectual and spiritual reflection in Islamic history, past and present. This divine book was not only the study subject of commentators and interpreters, but also so essential a source to so as to represent Islam the ultimate connection between human and God, between the believer and faith, in a relation of interdependence and interpenetration alike. Muslims focus on the Qur’ān as the Word of God – handed down from heaven through the prophet Muhammad, “providing all the believers with clear eternal, indisputable norms, teachings and ideal commandments to enlighten this life and lead to Salvation in the next.”1

The central position of this written corpus is not only being key-question to the religion(s)2 of Islam, but rather how the Qur’ān should be read and perceived accordingly. On one hand, some Muslim scholars deal with the issue of exegesis, although orthodox premises mostly restrict them. On another hand, many non-Muslim scholars ask whether Islam – because of the Qur’ān – is reformable. In either way, Islam is pre-conceived and seen in these discussions as a “specific, essential, unchangeable system of thought, beliefs, and non-beliefs, one which is superior or inferior (according to Muslim or non-Muslims) to the West.”3

Mohammed Arkoun is one scholar who goes beyond these narrow margins of Islamic Studies by incorporating methods analyses that are not usually part of what is considered to be the standard, used methodologies in the classical Islamic Studies. He calls for a critical reading of Islamic reasoning/thought by the help of methodological approaches borrowed from social science,4 this appears for instances in Arkoun’s saying:

„I [M. Arkoun] insist on a historical, sociological, anthropological approach not to deny the
importance of the theological and philosophical, but to enrich them by the inclusion of the
concrete historical and social conditions in which Islam always has been practiced.“5

In doing so, Arkoun is practicing ‘ijtihād’, a field/method of reasoning that is nowadays often limited to a few, selective people within Islam, for the sake of authority to gain and preserve power. Hence, he proposes deconstructing the image of the one true Islam that is established and defended by orthodoxy during the last centuries. In this sense the deconstruction of the Islamic history, combined with an elaborate re-construction, has certainly a deep impact on the endeavour of developing new approaches to Qur’ān. The ultimate goal of Arkouns project6 is nothing else than to “develop – through the example set by Islam as a religion and a social-historical space –– a new epistemological strategy for the comparative study of cultures.“7

The present paper has the aim of elucidating the methodology of Mohammed Arkoun, led by the questions: how does Arkoun apply his above mentioned methodology to his study of the Islamic concept of Revelation and to what extent his methodology is based on an interdisciplinary social sciences. The first chapter will give a short overview of the life of Mohammed Arkoun. To take his reliance on the methods of scientific inquiry in other fieldsinto account is necessary: to show firstly, by whom he was scholarly influenced, and to meet, secondly, post-modernist premise of self-reflection. In the second chapter, epistemological strategies are explained: by drawing different perspectives, which will make the aim of the project, as well as the significance of discourse-analyses more comprehensible. Mohammed Arkoun’s central terminology and concepts are presented in the third chapter. It will be done by describing and analysing the terminology, the complex network of thoughts – that even Arkoun himself has not systematised,8 – might be readily available, in order to find a precise answer to the question mentioned above. More or less, critical remarks on the project of Arkoun will be given in the fourth chapter, primarily on the impact of his method, conception and thinking with regard to the Qur’ānic Studies.

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1 Arkoun, Mohammed: Islam: To reform or to subvert? Saqi Books, London 2006, p. 54.

2 We have to keep in mind that Islam is not a monolithic entity; similar to Christianity it contains different religious views, movements and according to believers a huge diversity. Mohammed Arkounmentions this point, he criticised the overall usage of the terms like “Islam”, “Muslim” and “Islamic” (cf. Günther, Ursula: Mohammed Arkoun: Ein moderner Kritiker der islamischen Vernunft. Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2004, p. 56-57).

3 Arkoun, Mohammed: “Rethinking Islam Today.” In Charles Kurzman; Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press 1998, p. 206.

4 Cf. Günther, Ursula: “Mohammed Arkoun: towards a radical rethinking of Islamic thought.” In Shua Taji-Farouki; Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur’ān. Oxford University Press in association
with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London 2006, pp. 125-169.

5 Arkoun 1998: 207

6 Although Arkoun developed the project – called „ The critic of Islamic Reason” – he points out very clear that it is only realizable and successfully if many scholars participate in it.

7 Arkoun 1998: 206

7) Bibliography

ARKOUN, Mohamed: “Rethinking Islam Today”. In Charles Kurzman; Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press 1998 pp. 205-222.

ARKOUN, Mohammed: Rethinking Islam: Common Questions, Uncommon Answers. Mohammed Arkoun translated and edited by Robert D. Lee, Westview Press 1994

ARKOUN, Mohammed: The unthought in contemporary Islamic thought. London: Saqi Books, 2002.

ARKOUN, Mohammed: Islam: To reform or to subvert? London: Saqi Books, 2006 (Originally published as Unthought in contemporary Islamic thought: London: Saqi Books, 2002).

GÜNTHER, Ursula: “Mohammed Arkoun: towards a radical rethinking of Islamic thought.” In: Shua Taji-Farouki; Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur’ān. Oxford University Press in
association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London 2006 pp 125-169.

GÜNTHER, Ursula: Mohammed Arkoun: Ein moderner Kritiker der islamischen Vernunft. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2004.

RIPPIN, Andrew: Muslims: their religious beliefs and practices, third edition. London: Routledge, 2005.

SOERKARBA, Siti Rohmah: „The Critique of Arab thought: Mohammed Arkoun’s deconstruction method.“ In: Makara, Sosial Humaniora, Vol. 10, No. 2, December 2006: 79-87.
Online available: journal.ui.ac.id/upload/…/04_Siti%20Rohmah%20-%20Revisi.pdf (Retrieved on 02.02.2010)
http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0395#e0395-s0002