LessonsIndications of Rational Metaphor and the Metaphor-by-Implication DebateQuiz

In explaining some familiar cases of rational figurative predication, al-Sakkākī advances an approach associated with metaphor by implication (استعارة بالكناية). A nonliteral agent is likened to the proper bearer of the action, and an appropriate attribute or action is then presented as a consequence of that comparison.

For “أَنْبَتَ الرَّبِيعُ الْبَقْلَ,” spring is understood through an implied comparison with what truly causes growth; the attribution of “causing growth” serves the figurative conception.

The dispute concerns where the figurativeness is located. One account identifies transfer in the predication itself, while the other invokes implicit comparison and its attached implications. They should not be presented as identical theories.

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Al-Sakkākī’s alternative account

Indications of Rational Metaphor and the Metaphor-by-Implication Debate

In explaining some familiar cases of rational figurative predication, al-Sakkākī advances an approach associated with metaphor by implication (استعارة بالكناية). A nonliteral agent is likened to the proper bearer of the action, and an appropriate attribute or action is then presented as a consequence of that comparison.

For “أَنْبَتَ الرَّبِيعُ الْبَقْلَ,” spring is understood through an implied comparison with what truly causes growth; the attribution of “causing growth” serves the figurative conception.

The dispute concerns where the figurativeness is located. One account identifies transfer in the predication itself, while the other invokes implicit comparison and its attached implications. They should not be presented as identical theories.