of governors of the Institute of Ismaili Studies
in London, professor emeritus of the history of
Islamic thought at the Sorbonne University in
Paris, former director of the Institute of Arab and
Islamic Studies there, and editor in chief of the
French scholarly journal Arabica. He has taught
as a visiting professor at several universities in
North America and Europe and has earned some
of the most prestigious awards in the humanities
and Islamic studies.
Arkoun is skeptical about the traditional for-
mulations of Islamic institutions, doctrine, and
practice throughout history. He believes that
Islamic authorities’ fear of societal chaos and their
desire for order and obedience helped determine
the establishment of Islamic law, thought, and
theology. According to him, Muslims must free
themselves from the oppressive constraints of
“orthodox” Islam and work in partnership with
members of other religions in creating a world
that is rooted in peace, equality, mutual under-
standing, and intellectual vigor. In such a world,
there would be no borders and no core, no side-
lined groups and no superior ones. A transformed
and open-ended Islam would become the basis for
societies where people would seek to understand
one another without permitting dogma, ethnic,
linguistic, or other differences to block their con-
tinued cooperation.
For Arkoun, one way that the powerful sway
of Muslim orthodoxy or orthodoxies can be less-
ened is by means of the creation of a new academic
discipline that he calls “applied Islamology.” This
discipline would be devoted to analyzing and
criticizing the ideas and institutions within Islam
that have perpetuated discrimination, oppression,
and marginalization.
Arkoun’s novel and dynamic approach to
Islam is also evident in his methodology with
respect to the qUran. The supreme and perfect
message of the Quran as a revealed sacred text is a
central tenet of Islamic doctrine, and this is one of
the ideas that Arkoun criticizes. He believes that
the question of whether the Quran was revealed
should be suspended pending further academic
inquiry, while he contends there is a vigorous
Quranic intention. For him, this sacred text does
not impose definitive solutions to the practical
problems of human existence. It has the capacity
to generate within humans a regard for themselves,
the world, and the symbols that could potentially
provide them with a sense of meaning.
While Arkoun’s ideas are thought provoking,
their full impact outside scholarly circles remains
to be seen. One of the main questions that liberal
Muslims such as Arkoun face is the extent to
which their ideas may become institutionalized and
accepted by the Muslim masses who are not neces-
sarily influenced by intellectual trends in Western
colleges and universities. Nevertheless, Arkoun’s
life and work will continue to be a tremendous
force within Islamic studies for many more years.
See also edUcation.
Jon ArmajaniFurther reading: Mohammed Arkoun, Rethinking Islam:
Common Questions, Uncommon Answers, trans. and ed.
Robert D. Lee (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1989);
Mohammed Arkoun, The Unthought in Contemporary
Islamic Thought (London: Saqi Books, 2002); Robert D.
Lee, Overcoming Tradition and Modernity: The Search for
Islamic Authenticity (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,
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