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

والاستعارة قد تقيد بالحقيقية
Metaphor may be qualified as “ḥaqīqiyyah” in this discussion.

Here “real” does not say that the expression has returned to its literal lexical meaning. It says that the intended referent is an actual object accessible to sense or intellect, as opposed to cases involving an imaginative or indirect construal that later distinctions will address.

If “ladayya asad” (“I have a lion”) refers, with an adequate indicator, to a courageous person, the person is a real referent. “Lion” remains a figurative description founded on bravery. Reality of the person and literalness of the expression are separate questions.

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Actual resemblance, figurative construal and error

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

والاستعارة قد تقيد بالحقيقية
Metaphor may be qualified as “ḥaqīqiyyah” in this discussion.

Here “real” does not say that the expression has returned to its literal lexical meaning. It says that the intended referent is an actual object accessible to sense or intellect, as opposed to cases involving an imaginative or indirect construal that later distinctions will address.

If “ladayya asad” (“I have a lion”) refers, with an adequate indicator, to a courageous person, the person is a real referent. “Lion” remains a figurative description founded on bravery. Reality of the person and literalness of the expression are separate questions.