Mohammed Arkoun

Emeritus Professor of the History of Islamic Thought, the Sorbonne

The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought

In his series of lectures, Arkoun analyses Islamic traditions, texts, and intellectual history to separate reason from dogmatic claims that make up ‘unthought’, or uncritical acceptance of traditional ideas. Drawing on a combination of disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, and anthropology, he views Islam both as a religion and a time-honoured tradition. He concludes that all aspects of Islamic scholarship and practises should be subjected to critical analysis.

Biography

Mohammed Arkoun was born on 1 February 1928 in Taourirt Mimoun, Tunisia. A scholar of Islam, he applied academic disciplines to the history and literature of the Muslim world, advocating for modernism. Graduating from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Algiers in 1956, he was awarded a PhD from the Sorbonne in 1968. He joined the philology department at the University of Strasbourg in 1956 and moved to Université Lumière Lyon 2 in 1969. He retired as Professor of the History of Islamic Thought at the Sorbonne in 1992.

Arkoun held visiting professorships at several institutions including UCLA, UCLouvain, the Pontifical Institute of Arabic Studies, and the University of Amsterdam. An advisor on policy initiatives to improve relations between Europe and the Muslim world, he became Officer of the French Legion of Honour in 1996. Notable publications appearing in English include Building and Meaning in the Islamic World (1983), Rethinking Islam Today (1987), The Meaning of Cultural Conservation in Muslim Societies (1990), and Rethinking Islam: Common Questions, Uncommon Answers (1994).

Published/Archival Resources

Published as The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought.