وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ
His eyes turned white with grief.
The verse describes a physical condition affecting Yaʿqūb’s eyes, traditionally explained in connection with loss of sight from grief. Its striking nature alone does not establish that the whiteness is only a metaphor.
Min al-ḥuzn specifies the cause, and the line gains force after the cry of sorrow. A factual physical description can be rhetorically powerful without being classified as a transferred metaphor.
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Practice 5: Advanced Applied Balāghah in Selected Qur’anic Passages
وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ
His eyes turned white with grief.
The verse describes a physical condition affecting Yaʿqūb’s eyes, traditionally explained in connection with loss of sight from grief. Its striking nature alone does not establish that the whiteness is only a metaphor.
Min al-ḥuzn specifies the cause, and the line gains force after the cry of sorrow. A factual physical description can be rhetorically powerful without being classified as a transferred metaphor.