LessonsPurposes of Simile: Possibility, Condition, Degree, Beautification, Disfigurement and ReversalQuiz

فَإِنْ تَفُقِ الأَنَامَ وَأَنْتَ مِنْهُمْ فَإِنَّ الْمِسْكَ بَعْضُ دَمِ الْغَزَالِ
If you surpass other people while being one of them, it is no impossibility: musk itself comes from the gazelle's blood.

The verse anticipates the apparent surprise that someone belonging to humanity could excel other humans so markedly. It supplies an acknowledged comparison: something originating from a common material can become markedly distinguished in quality.

The subject is a person outstanding among fellow humans, and the comparison term is musk in relation to the gazelle's blood. The objective is to establish possibility, not to prove that the particular addressee really surpasses everyone. The objection being answered is the false assumption that a common origin makes exceptional distinction impossible.

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The musk-and-gazelle verse

Purposes of Simile: Possibility, Condition, Degree, Beautification, Disfigurement and Reversal

فَإِنْ تَفُقِ الأَنَامَ وَأَنْتَ مِنْهُمْ فَإِنَّ الْمِسْكَ بَعْضُ دَمِ الْغَزَالِ
If you surpass other people while being one of them, it is no impossibility: musk itself comes from the gazelle's blood.

The verse anticipates the apparent surprise that someone belonging to humanity could excel other humans so markedly. It supplies an acknowledged comparison: something originating from a common material can become markedly distinguished in quality.

The subject is a person outstanding among fellow humans, and the comparison term is musk in relation to the gazelle's blood. The objective is to establish possibility, not to prove that the particular addressee really surpasses everyone. The objection being answered is the false assumption that a common origin makes exceptional distinction impossible.