LessonsIstiʿārah: Definition, Figurative Identification and the Linguistic–Intellectual DebateQuiz

لَا تَعْجَبُوا مِنْ بِلَى غِلَالَتِهِ ... قَدْ زَرَّ أَزْرَارَهُ عَلَى الْقَمَرِ
“Do not wonder that his undergarment wears thin; he has fastened its buttons upon the moon.”

A beautiful person is called a “moon,” bringing exceptional beauty to the foreground. Literal clothing on the celestial moon is not intended. The figure's effect lies in imagining the wearer as a moon and allowing that image to interact with the garment.

This differs from the sun-poem, where a figurative sun shelters someone from the literal sun. Both employ metaphorical naming and surprise, but the rhetorical relations and their results are not identical.

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The moon-figure and a different kind of wonder

Istiʿārah: Definition, Figurative Identification and the Linguistic–Intellectual Debate

لَا تَعْجَبُوا مِنْ بِلَى غِلَالَتِهِ ... قَدْ زَرَّ أَزْرَارَهُ عَلَى الْقَمَرِ
“Do not wonder that his undergarment wears thin; he has fastened its buttons upon the moon.”

A beautiful person is called a “moon,” bringing exceptional beauty to the foreground. Literal clothing on the celestial moon is not intended. The figure's effect lies in imagining the wearer as a moon and allowing that image to interact with the garment.

This differs from the sun-poem, where a figurative sun shelters someone from the literal sun. Both employ metaphorical naming and surprise, but the rhetorical relations and their results are not identical.