Metonymy, Compound Figurative Expression and Mental Attribution

1. Three further discussions of majaz

Majaz transfers an expression from its customary use to another meaning through an intelligible relation and contextual evidence. In the earlier discussion of metaphor, the governing relation was similarity. The next cases involve another relation or a different kind of transfer.

Majaz mursal concerns a word used for something related to its usual meaning without similarity. Majaz murakkab involves a whole expression; majaz aqli concerns the attribution of an act or its meaning to something other than its literal agent or bearer.

The key question is not simply whether the words are nonliteral, but where the figurative operation occurs and what permits it.

2. Definition of majaz mursal

Majaz mursal is figurative usage in which the relation between the customary sense and the intended sense is something other than similarity. The context lets the hearer move from the named thing to its closely related referent.

For example, a hand can be the means by which someone provides a favor, so the word “hand” may stand for the favor. The favor is not being described as looking like a hand; there is a causal association.

The decisive distinction from istiara is the kind of relation, not whether the expression sounds striking or elegant.

3. Relation, indicator, and locus of transfer

Three questions must be answered separately: What word is uttered? What relation connects its literal meaning to the intended referent? What contextual indicator favors the transferred meaning?

In «أَرْسَلْتُ الْعُيُونَ», “eyes” can refer to spies sent to obtain information. The eye is a part of a spy, so the relation is part-for-whole (juz'iyya). Sending someone to investigate provides the contextual indication that persons, rather than detached eyes, are meant.

The same expression may be literal in one context and figurative in another. Classification depends on actual use.

4. The eight relations in this chapter

The eight main relations are sababiyya, musabbabiyya, juz'iyya, kulliyya, i'tibar ma kan, i'tibar ma yakun, mahalliyya, and haliyya.

The first two concern cause and effect; the next two concern part and whole. Two more invoke an earlier or later state. The final pair link what occupies a place with the place that contains it.

These labels are analytical, not merely memorized names. In every example, identify what the spoken word literally designates and what the speaker intends. Reversing that direction often reverses the classification.

5. Sababiyya: naming the cause for its effect

«عَظُمَتْ يَدُ فُلَانٍ»
That person has rendered a great favor.

The literal sense of «يَد» is a hand. In the intended reading the statement praises someone's benefaction, not the physical dimensions of a hand. The hand is an instrument by which help is given, so the cause is named for its result.

If a speaker were genuinely comparing people's hand sizes, the same wording could be literal. Context is therefore essential.

6. Musabbabiyya: naming the effect for its cause

«أَمْطَرَتِ السَّمَاءُ نَبَاتًا»
The sky rained vegetation—that is, it sent rain that brings forth plants.

Plants do not normally fall from the sky as raindrops do. Rather, plants are an effect of rainfall. In this expression the word denoting that effect is used for the cause, rain.

This is musabbabiyya. A sound analysis specifies the direction: the named item is an effect while the intended item is the cause.

7. Do not reverse cause and effect

Sababiyya names the cause but intends the effect; musabbabiyya names the effect but intends the cause.

First: “hand” meaning “benefaction”: the hand is a means, the benefaction its result.
Second: “vegetation” meaning rain: the vegetation is the product, and rain is what produces it.

To avoid mistakes, determine the intended referent before assigning the label. Knowing that two things are associated is not enough.

8. Juz’iyya: naming a part for the whole

«أَرْسَلْتُ الْعُيُونَ»
I sent watchers or spies.

«عُيُون» literally means eyes. Eyes are part of people whose function is to observe and collect information. Thus a bodily part stands for the whole person.

The verb “sent” and the investigative setting guide the reading. For juz'iyya, the literal referent must be a part of the intended whole, rather than merely something associated with it.

9. Kulliyya: naming the whole for a part

«يَجْعَلُونَ أَصَابِعَهُمْ فِي آذَانِهِمْ»
They put their fingers into their ears—meaning the tips of their fingers.

In Qur'an 2:19 the term «أَصَابِع» names whole fingers, while the parts inserted into the ears are the fingertips. This is whole-for-part (kulliyya).

The expression also intensifies the imagined effort to shut out a disturbing sound. The rhetorical vividness accompanies, rather than replaces, the logical classification.

10. Part and whole: diagnosing direction

Juz'iyya: eyes are named but a whole person is meant.
Kulliyya: fingers are named but their tips are meant.

Both involve genuine part–whole relations, yet the direction differs. Merely saying “part and whole are involved” misses the distinction.

Practical check: underline the noun actually spoken. If it names the smaller constituent but means the encompassing whole, the relation is juz'iyya. If it names the whole for a constituent part, it is kulliyya.

11. I’tibar ma kan: reference by a former state

«وَآتُوا الْيَتَامَى أَمْوَالَهُمْ»
And give the orphans their property.

The setting for handing over property includes reaching maturity and appropriate competence. In that situation, those formerly described as orphans are addressed by a designation belonging to their earlier state.

This rhetorical point does not mean that the passage overrides the separate legal conditions governing delivery of property. The particular relation here is naming someone by a previous condition.

12. I’tibar ma yakun: reference by a future state

«إِنِّي أَرَانِي أَعْصِرُ خَمْرًا»
I saw myself pressing wine—that is, pressing grapes.

In Qur'an 12:36 the material pressed is grapes, whereas the word “wine” designates what the pressed material may become later. The present object is named by its expected future state.

The expression does not assert that grapes already are wine. The transferred name anticipates the outcome, which is the hallmark of i'tibar ma yakun.

13. Former versus future description

When an expression retains the designation of an earlier condition, the relation is i'tibar ma kan. When it applies the designation of an anticipated later condition, it is i'tibar ma yakun.

Yatama: people described by reference to their former state of orphanhood.
Khamran: grapes designated by what they can subsequently yield.

Both involve time, but their directions are opposite: a past label continues forward, whereas a future label is brought backward.

14. Mahalliyya: the place for those in it

«قَرَّرَ الْمَجْلِسُ ذَلِكَ»
The council decided this—that is, its members made the decision.

The word «مَجْلِس» refers to the assembly or place of meeting, whereas the people present are the actual decision-makers. The place or assembly is named for its occupants.

This is mahalliyya. The verb “decided” supplies the context: a room or empty meeting place cannot literally deliberate or choose.

15. Haliyya: what occupies a place for the place

«فَفِي رَحْمَتِ اللَّهِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ»
They will remain forever in Allah's mercy—that is, in Paradise.

Mercy is manifested in Paradise. The word “mercy” here directs attention to the place in which that mercy is enjoyed. The containing place is meant through something located or realized in it.

This is haliyya. In mahalliyya the container is named for its occupants; in haliyya the contained state or thing is named for its place.

16. Comparing the container and the contained

“Council” → its members: the meeting-place or assembly is named and its occupants are meant: mahalliyya.
“Allah's mercy” → Paradise: the blessed state is named and the place where it is enjoyed is meant: haliyya.

Both relations involve place and what belongs to it, but their directions differ. Identify whether the place or what occupies it was actually named before classifying the example.

17. Summary table: eight relations

RelationNamedIntended
SababiyyaCauseEffect
MusabbabiyyaEffectCause
Juz'iyyaPartWhole
KulliyyaWholePart
Ma kanFormer conditionPresent subject
Ma yakunFuture conditionPresent subject
MahalliyyaPlaceOccupants
HaliyyaOccupying statePlace

Use the table diagnostically. The decisive issue is always the direction of reference from the word uttered to the thing intended.

18. How context activates each transfer

“Hand” is not metonymy whenever an actual hand is intended. Likewise, the direction from “fingers” to fingertips is justified by the physical and verbal context; the same word need not always carry that transfer.

A qarina may be a practical impossibility, the selectional meaning of a verb, the persons and events under discussion, or the overall communicative purpose. These different indicators direct the hearer away from a purely literal reading.

One should analyze actual usage, not assume that a familiar Arabic expression possesses one fixed figurative label under all circumstances.

19. A step-by-step analysis of metonymy

For a new example: (1) identify the ordinary meaning of the key word; (2) infer the intended referent from context; (3) specify the direction of the relation; and (4) identify the relevant qarina.

In «قَرَّرَ الْمَجْلِسُ», “council” literally names the assembly or its setting; its members are intended. Thus the container/occupants relation is mahalliyya. The predicate “decided” strengthens the reading because people deliberate and decide.

This method makes the reasons for classification clear, especially for easily confused pairs.

20. Majaz mursal compared with metaphor

Metaphor transfers a term through resemblance. Majaz mursal transfers a term through another relation such as cause–effect, part–whole, former–future state, or place–occupant.

Calling a brave person a “lion” may rely on a shared quality such as courage. Calling spies “eyes” instead invokes a physical part belonging to those people; the intended claim is not that they resemble eyes.

Both require an appropriate contextual indicator, but the operative relationship is different.

21. Majaz murakkab: transfer of an entire expression

In majaz murakkab, the figurative employment belongs to the expression as a whole, not merely to one isolated word. A sentence grammatically shaped as a report can be used to perform another expressive function.

For instance, a poet may picture his emotions as journeying with one company while his body remains elsewhere. The lines have declarative form but serve to convey grief and regret rather than a neutral travel report.

The defining point is not sentence length; it is the transferred or nonstandard function of the complete utterance.

22. A declarative verse expressing sorrow

«هَوَايَ مَعَ الرَّكْبِ الْيَمَانِينَ مُصْعِدٌ»
My longing travels with the caravan heading toward Yemen.

The poetic picture contrasts the journey of the speaker's longing with the body's presence elsewhere. Grammatically this reads as a statement of two conditions, yet its expressive purpose is separation, longing, and sorrow.

The hearer recognizes the emotional meaning from the combined picture. The rhetorical effect thus belongs to the complete utterance.

23. When a report functions expressively

A straightforward statement such as “I am sad” reports a condition. An elaborated poetic scene, by contrast, may enact the emotional meaning through its total image.

The discussion notes that declarative wording can serve an expressive or non-informative purpose. A further distinction concerns whether the whole expression is transferred by resemblance to another situation or by some other relation.

The analytical question is whether the speaker is primarily presenting verifiable information or producing an emotional response through the utterance as a unit.

24. Compound expression and extended analogy

When a complete expression is applied to another situation through resemblance between two situations, it is known as istiara tamthiliyya, or extended/representative metaphor.

Compound figurative usage with a different relation should not automatically be given that label. Not every compound majaz is a representative metaphor.

Representative metaphor compares the structure of whole situations. One must identify the original picture, the intended picture, the similarity, and the contextual indication.

25. Single-word transfer versus whole-utterance transfer

Majaz mursal: one word designates another related referent—for example, “eyes” for spies.

Majaz murakkab: several words together form an utterance whose total function is transferred or used beyond the apparent informative purpose.

Word count alone is not the criterion. A long sentence may contain a figurative single word while the rest remains literal. In compound figurative usage, the function of the total expression is the subject of analysis.

26. Majaz aqli: figurative attribution

Majaz aqli concerns the attribution of an act or an action-related meaning. The act is apparently ascribed to something the speaker does not regard as its literal performer or bearer, while an intelligible relation makes the attribution appropriate.

Often the individual words retain their normal lexical senses. What is transferred is the predication or attribution.

This distinguishes it from lexical majaz, where the movement chiefly concerns the use of a word for a different referent.

27. The poetic example of figurative attribution

«أَشَابَ الصَّغِيرَ وَأَفْنَى الْكَبِيرَ كَرُّ الْغَدَاةِ وَمَرُّ الْعَشِيِّ»
The recurring mornings and passing evenings made the young grow gray and the old pass away.

The verbs ashaba (“made gray”) and afna (“brought to an end”) are ascribed to the passage of time. In the intended understanding, time is not itself an independent ultimate creator of such effects; the changes occur in association with its passage.

The figurative point lies in assigning these effects to the succession of morning and evening, rather than necessarily altering the lexical meaning of each verb.

28. Grammatical analysis of the attribution

«أَشَابَ الصَّغِيرَ ... كَرُّ الْغَدَاةِ»
The recurrence of morning made the young grow gray.

أَشَابَ: past-tense verb, “caused to become gray-haired.”
الصَّغِيرَ: its accusative object.
كَرُّ: nominative grammatical subject, with «الغداة» as its genitive complement.

Grammatically “recurrence” is the subject, but rhetorically the point is that it is not the literal independent agent of the effect. Syntactic agency and the deeper causal attribution need not coincide.

29. Literal and transferred attribution

In literal attribution, the predicate is assigned to what the speaker considers its real bearer or performer. In figurative attribution, the predicate is assigned to something connected with that bearer, while the connection is understood contextually.

Time, place, cause, or other associations may make that shift intelligible. The speaker's understanding and the communicative setting matter.

Thus the formal structure of a sentence alone cannot mechanically prove figurative attribution in every imaginable context.

30. Lexical versus attributional figurativeness

«أَرْسَلْتُ الْعُيُونَ»
I sent spies.

Here the word “eyes” stands for people. This is lexical figurative reference.

«أَشَابَ الصَّغِيرَ كَرُّ الْغَدَاةِ»
The recurrence of morning made the young gray.

Here the rhetorical shift primarily concerns the attribution of a change to time. It is majaz aqli.

The two may both be figurative, but their analytical loci differ: a transferred referent versus a transferred predication.

31. Three kinds of figurative operation

TypeMain locusKey question
Majaz mursalReference of a wordWhich non-similarity relation?
Majaz murakkabEntire expressionHow does its total purpose shift?
Majaz aqliPredication of an actTo what is the act attributed?

An utterance may contain several rhetorical layers. Always identify the specific word, structure, or attribution under examination before assigning a classification.

32. Worked analysis: four relations

1. «عَظُمَتْ يَدُ فُلَانٍ»: “hand” for favor: sababiyya, since the hand is a means of giving.
2. «أَمْطَرَتِ السَّمَاءُ نَبَاتًا»: vegetation for rain: musabbabiyya, because growth is the result of rain.
3. «أَرْسَلْتُ الْعُيُونَ»: eyes for spies: juz'iyya, since the eyes belong to the person.
4. «يَجْعَلُونَ أَصَابِعَهُمْ»: whole fingers for fingertips: kulliyya, the whole being named for its part.

None of these depends primarily on resemblance. Their distinguishing marks are the direction and type of relation.

33. Worked analysis: temporal and locative relations

1. «الْيَتَامَى»: a former description used at a later relevant stage: i'tibar ma kan.
2. «أَعْصِرُ خَمْرًا»: grapes named by what they may become: i'tibar ma yakun.
3. «قَرَّرَ الْمَجْلِسُ»: council for its members: mahalliyya.
4. «فَفِي رَحْمَتِ اللَّهِ»: mercy for the place of its enjoyment, Paradise: haliyya.

For each example, ask what the spoken expression originally names. The reversal between past/future or place/occupant then becomes straightforward.

34. Consolidated learning outcomes

Majaz mursal transfers the reference of a word through a relation other than similarity. Its eight chief relations are cause/effect, part/whole, former/future state, and container/contained, each with two directions.

Majaz murakkab concerns the redirected function of an entire utterance. When a whole situation is applied to another through resemblance, representative metaphor (istiara tamthiliyya) becomes relevant.

Majaz aqli concerns to whom an act or predicate is attributed, rather than only the reference of an individual word.

The next discussion, kinaya, examines an intended implicative meaning in an expression where the literal reading remains possible in a way that differs from ordinary majaz.