Islam and Modernity

This collection of essays represents Mohammed Arkoun's sustained critique of both traditional Islamic thought and Western orientalist approaches to understanding Islam. Arkoun develops what he terms "applied Islamology," a methodological framework that employs modern social sciences, linguistics, and critical theory to deconstruct inherited religious certainties while opening space for rethinking the divine in contemporary contexts.

Central to Arkoun's project is the distinction between the "Quranic fact" and the "Islamic fact." The former refers to the original revelatory event and its immediate textual expression, while the latter encompasses the entire historical accumulation of interpretations, institutions, and practices. This distinction allows Arkoun to argue that much of what passes for eternal Islamic truth actually represents contingent historical constructions that have solidified into dogma. He particularly targets the classical period's theological syntheses, which he views as having frozen dynamic revelation into static orthodoxy.

Arkoun employs Foucauldian archaeology and Derridean deconstruction to excavate what he calls the "unthought" and "unthinkable" in Islamic tradition. The unthought comprises those assumptions so deeply embedded they escape critical examination, while the unthinkable refers to possibilities excluded by orthodox frameworks. His analysis reveals how political power has consistently shaped theological discourse, determining which interpretations of the divine become authoritative and which remain marginal or heretical.

The work engages critically with both Muslim traditionalists who resist historical-critical methods and Western scholars who approach Islam through essentialist categories. Against the former, Arkoun insists that protecting faith from critical inquiry ultimately weakens it. Against the latter, he demonstrates how supposedly neutral academic approaches often perpetuate colonial-era stereotypes about Islamic civilization's relationship to reason and modernity.

Arkoun's ultimate aim transcends mere critique. He seeks to create conditions for what he terms "emergent reason" - a form of thinking that remains open to transcendence while embracing modern critical consciousness. This involves recovering marginalized voices within Islamic tradition, particularly rationalist and mystical currents suppressed by orthodox power structures. His vision of modernity does not require abandoning the sacred but rather liberating it from historical accretions that limit its transformative potential.

The collection's significance lies in its pioneering application of contemporary critical theory to Islamic studies, offering a third way between uncritical traditionalism and reductive secularism. Arkoun demonstrates that taking God seriously in modernity requires neither fundamentalist rigidity nor atheistic dismissal, but rather patient archaeological work to uncover divine possibility beneath layers of human construction.