LessonsComprehensive Review and Application: Bayān, Badīʿ and the Final Rhetorical ArtsQuiz

زيد كالأسد في الشجاعة
Zayd resembles a lion in courage.

Here Zayd is the mushabbah (subject), the lion is the mushabbah bih (comparand), the prefixed kāf is the comparative marker and bravery is the wajh al-shabah (shared quality). Their explicit appearance identifies a clear simile, although rhetoric permits the omission of some elements.

The comparison asserts a selected shared feature, not equality in every attribute. The comparand may be represented as especially prominent in that feature to strengthen the effect.

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Four elements of an explicit simile

Comprehensive Review and Application: Bayān, Badīʿ and the Final Rhetorical Arts

زيد كالأسد في الشجاعة
Zayd resembles a lion in courage.

Here Zayd is the mushabbah (subject), the lion is the mushabbah bih (comparand), the prefixed kāf is the comparative marker and bravery is the wajh al-shabah (shared quality). Their explicit appearance identifies a clear simile, although rhetoric permits the omission of some elements.

The comparison asserts a selected shared feature, not equality in every attribute. The comparand may be represented as especially prominent in that feature to strengthen the effect.