LessonsFamiliar and Distinctive Metaphor: Obvious Resemblance and Artful RarityQuiz

وَاشْتَعَلَ الرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا
And the head blazed with gray hair.

Qur’an 19:4 applies the imagery of a flame spreading to the spread of gray hair. The wording does not simply say “the gray hair ignited”; it attributes the blazing to the head as a whole, while specifying gray hair as the intended condition.

This illustrates the broader expressive effect of assigning a spreading state to the whole affected place. The topic differs from the caravan image, but both reveal how attribution can enlarge the imagined extent of a process.

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The Qur’anic analogy of spreading whiteness

Familiar and Distinctive Metaphor: Obvious Resemblance and Artful Rarity

وَاشْتَعَلَ الرَّأْسُ شَيْبًا
And the head blazed with gray hair.

Qur’an 19:4 applies the imagery of a flame spreading to the spread of gray hair. The wording does not simply say “the gray hair ignited”; it attributes the blazing to the head as a whole, while specifying gray hair as the intended condition.

This illustrates the broader expressive effect of assigning a spreading state to the whole affected place. The topic differs from the caravan image, but both reveal how attribution can enlarge the imagined extent of a process.