LessonsKināyah: Definition, Implication, Literal Meaning, and Its Difference from MajāzQuiz

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ
Nothing is like Him.

One rhetorical account understands the negation of likeness through an intensified form: denying anything comparable even to a supposed like reinforces, a fortiori, the denial of likeness to the referent Himself.

Another well-known grammatical account treats the kāf as additional for emphasis. The kināyah discussion focuses on a reading in which the kāf retains its ordinary function and the implication itself supplies force. The two analyses should not be treated as identical.

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Indirect emphasis in laysa ka-mithlihi shayʾ

Kināyah: Definition, Implication, Literal Meaning, and Its Difference from Majāz

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ
Nothing is like Him.

One rhetorical account understands the negation of likeness through an intensified form: denying anything comparable even to a supposed like reinforces, a fortiori, the denial of likeness to the referent Himself.

Another well-known grammatical account treats the kāf as additional for emphasis. The kināyah discussion focuses on a reading in which the kāf retains its ordinary function and the implication itself supplies force. The two analyses should not be treated as identical.