Printed pp. 111–118: the definition of majāz ʿaqlī, associated relations, indications, Quranic and poetic examples, and worked comparisons Read the bilingual lesson for Rational Figurative Predication: Relations and Contextual Indications and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. From literal to figurative predication
In literal predication (الإسناد الحقيقي), the action or action-meaning is attributed to its proper bearer: “كَتَبَ زَيْدٌ” assigns writing to Zayd. Figurative predication assigns it to something related to that bearer, rather than the proper bearer itself.
جَرَى الْمَاءُ — The water flowed: flowing is assigned to water.
جَرَى النَّهْرُ — The river flowed: flowing is assigned to the place in which water flows.
The individual words can retain their ordinary meanings. What changes is the direction of the predication. This is why the matter belongs to rational or predicational figurative usage.
2. Names of rational figurative predication
الإسناد المجازي
Figurative predication: assigning an action to a related but nonproper bearer.
It is also majāz ʿaqlī (مجاز عقلي), because reason and context identify the shift in attribution; majāz ḥukmī (مجاز حكمي), because the judgment or predication is altered; and majāz fī al-ithbāt (مجاز في الإثبات), because an action is affirmed in relation to something other than its proper bearer.
These names describe the same broad rhetorical phenomenon from different aspects. They do not require every individual word to undergo a lexical change.
3. The source definition of figurative predication
وإسنادًا مجازيًّا، وهو إسناده أي إسناد الفعل أو معناه إلى ملابس له غير ما هو له
Figurative predication is assigning a verb, or the meaning of a verb, to something associated with it other than its proper bearer.
al-fiʿl aw maʿnāhu (الفعل أو معناه) makes the definition broad enough to include action-meanings in participles and verbal nouns, rather than verbs alone.
A mulābis (ملابس) is something genuinely connected with the event—its patient, time, place, cause, and the like. The expression ghayr mā huwa lahu (غير ما هو له) means that this related element is not the event's primary bearer.
4. The speaker’s apparent standpoint
The previous definition of literal predication used the expression “ʿinda al-mutakallim fī al-ẓāhir”: according to the speaker's apparent standpoint. The same interpretive care applies here.
If the speaker manifestly transfers the action to an associated element, figurative predication is plausible. But if someone genuinely regards that element as the real doer, a listener's judgment that the belief is false does not automatically turn the sentence into rhetorical figurative usage.
In “أَنْبَتَ الرَّبِيعُ الْبَقْلَ” (spring caused the plants to grow), is spring being mentioned as a related cause, or believed to be the independent producer? Context and apparent intent matter.
5. Why a contextual indication is necessary
A shifted attribution is not sufficient on its own. There must be a qarīnah ṣārifah (قرينة صارفة)—an indication that rules out an entirely literal reading of the predication.
This may arise from rational knowledge: water flows, while the river is its place. It may also arise from the wider sentence, the situation, or established usage.
The indication does not necessarily shift an individual noun's dictionary meaning. It guides the interpreter from a literal attribution to a contextually motivated attribution.
6. Lexical metaphor versus rational predication
Lexical figurative usage changes how a word denotes its meaning; rational figurative usage changes the assignment of a predicate to an associated element.
FeatureLexical figurative useRational figurative use
FocusWord-to-meaning relationPredication-to-bearer relation
Typical shiftCalling a brave man “a lion”“The river flowed” for water flowing in it
Interpretive keyRelated meaning and indicationRelated bearer and indication
Both require disciplined interpretation, but their objects of analysis differ.
7. Six recurring relations in figurative predication
The source distinguishes several associated elements. Seeing them together clarifies that the patient, agent, verbal noun, time, place, or cause may be given a predicate whose proper relation lies elsewhere.
RelationExpressionProper locus
Patientعِيشَةٌ رَاضِيَةٌThe person enjoying life is content
Agentسَيْلٌ مُفْعَمٌThe flood fills the valley
Verbal nounشِعْرٌ شَاعِرٌA poet composes poetry
Timeنَهَارُهُ صَائِمٌThe person fasts in daytime
Placeنَهْرٌ جَارٍWater runs in a river
Causeبَنَى الْأَمِيرُ الْمَدِينَةَWorkers perform construction
The relation and the contextual indication still need to be established in each particular use.
8. ʿĪshah rāḍiyah: attribution to the affected element
عِيشَةٍ رَاضِيَةٍ
A pleasing, contented life; in the surface wording, “a life that is content.”
The one who is actually pleased is the person living that life, not the life itself. Nevertheless the participle rāḍiyah (راضية) is assigned to the life, which is connected to the experiencer's contentment.
This illustrates an association with the experienced or affected object. The resulting expression conveys the quality of life vividly without a full explicit clause about its possessor.
9. Sayl mufʿam: the converse direction
سَيْلٌ مُفْعَمٌ
A flood described as “filled” or full to overflowing.
The underlying event can be expressed as أَفْعَمَ السَّيْلُ الْوَادِيَ: the flood filled the valley. The flood is the agent of filling, while the valley is what gets filled. In the compact description, a passive-participle type of quality is applied to the flood itself.
The example shows the reverse direction from the preceding case: an action's agent receives an expression typically connected with the patient. The crucial task is to recover the proper semantic relation.
10. Shiʿr shāʿir: association with the verbal noun
شِعْرٌ شَاعِرٌ
Poetry described as though it itself were a poet.
A shāʿir (شاعر) is properly the person who composes poetry. Poetry is connected to the act of composing, but it is not the composer. Assigning the agent-quality to the poetry is therefore a striking predicational transfer.
This illustrates an association with the action or its result. It intensifies praise of the poetic work rather than claiming that words on a page are literally a human poet.
11. Jadda jidduhu: intensification through the verbal noun
جَدَّ جِدُّهُ
His exertion became intense; literally, his earnest effort itself strove.
The person is the one who exerts effort. Yet jidd (جِدّ), the verbal noun or concept of exertion, appears as the grammatical doer of the verb. The semantic event has been assigned to a closely connected action-noun rather than to the person.
The expression gives rhetorical force to the degree of effort. It also shows that rational figurative predication can occur with an overt verb, not only adjectival participles.
12. Nahāruhu ṣāʾim: attribution to time
نَهَارُهُ صَائِمٌ
His day is fasting; that is, he fasts during the day.
A person—not a period of daylight—performs a fast. The participle ṣāʾim (صائم) is nevertheless assigned to nahār (نهار), the time in which fasting occurs.
Compare “الرَّجُلُ صَائِمٌ” (the man is fasting), where the proper bearer is named. The revised subject identifies a temporal association and changes the predicational relation.
13. Nahr jārin: attribution to place
نَهْرٌ جَارٍ
A flowing river.
In this analysis, flowing properly belongs to the water; a river designates its location or channel. Calling the river “flowing” transfers the property to a connected place.
An advanced point is that expressions can become fully conventional in ordinary usage. Rhetorical analysis here clarifies the original predicational association; it need not deny that native speakers normally understand such a phrase effortlessly.
14. The prince built the city: causal association
بَنَى الْأَمِيرُ الْمَدِينَةَ
The prince built the city.
Workers and builders commonly perform the physical construction. The prince may be credited with building through commissioning, resources, management, or command. The predication is then associated through causation.
It does not follow that every utterance of this sentence is automatically figurative: if the prince literally performed the relevant act, or the context defines “building” more broadly, the analysis changes. The attribution must be interpreted within its circumstances.
15. Figurative relations beyond a finite clause
أَعْجَبَنِي إِنْبَاتُ الرَّبِيعِ
The springtime's causing growth pleased me.
This is not a simple finite verb with a nominative subject. It uses inbāt (إنبات), a verbal noun, in a genitive or possessive-type construction with spring. Yet the idea of producing growth is still linked to the season.
The source's treatment of predicative, genitive, and causative relations prevents an unduly narrow rule. The rhetorical question concerns how an action-meaning is assigned, whatever the grammatical form conveying the relation.
16. Shiqāq baynihimā: a locative association
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ شِقَاقَ بَيْنِهِمَا
If you fear discord between the two of them.
The expression “baynihimā” indicates the between-ness or relational location of the dispute between two spouses. The commentary considers this sort of construction while discussing association and predicational relations.
The instructional point is linguistic rather than a treatment of the verse's legal implications: an event can be related to its locus or relational setting, which is distinct from directly naming its agents.
17. Makr al-layl wa-l-nahār: the role of time
وَمَكْرُ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ
The plotting of night and day—meaning the plotting conducted during night and day.
People undertake plots; night and day are their times. Connecting the verbal noun “makr” to these temporal expressions highlights association through time.
Compare “نَهَارُهُ صَائِمٌ.” Both usages connect an action with a temporal setting rather than directly with its human doer. The construction and the exact kind of predication should still be analyzed in context.
18. The expression “I slept the night” and ellipsis
نِمْتُ اللَّيْلَ
I slept during the night.
Here the time is mentioned, but the act of sleeping remains predicated of the human speaker. Therefore a temporal adjunct alone does not constitute rational figurative predication.
By contrast, a constructed comparison such as “نَامَ لَيْلُهُ” (his night slept) attributes sleeping to the time itself. This helps identify the crucial issue: which element is actually made the grammatical bearer of the predication?
19. Do not obey the command of the transgressors
وَلَا تُطِيعُوا أَمْرَ الْمُسْرِفِينَ
And do not obey the command of the transgressors.
The immediate object is amr (أمر), the command, while obedience is connected to the people who issue such commands. The commentary treats these constructions in relation to the precise associations between an act and what it concerns.
The lesson is not that any noun functioning as an object creates figurative subject-predication. One must distinguish the verb's grammatical object from the entity to which the action itself is ascribed.
20. Objection: not every nonliteral-looking attribution is metaphor
Some sentences appear to assign an action to what a listener regards as the wrong agent. But the speaker may genuinely believe that this is the actual agent. A factual disagreement is not the same thing as a rhetorical transfer.
Compare two uses of “أنبت الربيع البقل.” A speaker who takes the season as an independent producer stands differently from a speaker who intentionally mentions the season as an associated cause, while recognizing another proper agent.
Therefore, analyze speaker belief, contextual indication, and the bearer of predication together. Factual error alone does not establish rational figurative usage.
21. Taʾwīl: interpreting beyond the surface assignment
The source discusses taʾwīl (تأويل) as a way of identifying what the apparent assignment points beyond. It is not simply saying “the literal claim is false.” It specifies why a related element is named in place of the proper bearer.
أَنْبَتَ الرَّبِيعُ الْبَقْلَ
Spring caused the vegetation to grow.
If context makes the season a relevant cause or setting rather than an independent creator, the figurative relation is intelligible. A comparable supplementary example is “شَفَى الطَّبِيبُ الْمَرِيضَ” (the physician healed the patient), where the physician may be mentioned as the means of treatment. Its interpretation is likewise contextual.
22. The verse about youth, age, and passing time
أَشَابَ الصَّغِيرَ وَأَفْنَى الْكَبِيرَ كَرُّ الْغَدَاةِ وَمَرُّ الْعَشِيِّ
The recurring morning and passing evening made the young grey and brought the old to an end.
The expressions for the return of morning and the passing of evening are treated as though they actively grey hair and end lives. Their association with the passage of time makes the predicational transfer comprehensible.
The rhetorical force lies in personifying the relentless process of time. The point is to recover the relation of cause or temporal setting, not to assign physical agency to periods of day.
23. Worked comparison: literal and figurative
Compare who bears each action, not merely whether a time or place is mentioned.
ExpressionAnalysisReason
كَتَبَ زَيْدٌLiteralZayd is the writer
جَرَى الْمَاءُLiteralWater does the flowing
جَرَى النَّهْرُFigurativeIts location receives the predicate
نَهَارُهُ صَائِمٌFigurativeTime receives a person's fast
صَامَ زَيْدٌ نَهَارًاLiteralTime is stated but Zayd remains the subject
These classifications assume the ordinary intended contexts described in the lesson. Mentioning a temporal or locative complement does not automatically create a figurative predication.
24. A method for identifying rational figurative usage
Before classifying a sentence, follow four steps.
1. Identify the verb or action-meaning and its overt bearer.
2. Determine the bearer to which the action properly belongs.
3. Explain the association—patient, agent, verbal noun, time, place, cause, or another supported relation.
4. Identify the contextual indication and account for the speaker's apparent belief.
For “بَنَى الْأَمِيرُ الْمَدِينَةَ,” show how the prince is connected to the actual builders before treating the sentence as causal figurative predication. The mere occurrence of “prince” as subject is not a complete analysis.
25. Synthesis and the next inquiry
The central principle is a transfer of an action or action-meaning from its proper bearer to a suitably associated element, with an indication guiding the reader away from a purely literal predication.
The lesson covered associations involving the patient, agent, action-noun, time, place, cause, and genitive constructions. The poem on morning and evening showed how these structures can create a sustained rhetorical impression, not merely a technical classification.
The next section, aqsām al-majāz al-ʿaqlī (أقسام المجاز العقلي), classifies such usages more systematically. It begins on the next printed page.
Practice questions
Question 1
To what is an action ascribed in rational figurative predication?
- To its proper doer
- To an associated but nonproper bearer
- To a meaningless word
- Always to the addressee
Question 2
Why is rational figurative usage also called majāz ḥukmī?
- The root changes
- It occurs only in poetry
- The judgment or predication shifts
- The verb is deleted
Question 3
What does “al-fiʿl aw maʿnāhu” add to the definition?
- Only a past-tense verb counts
- Only verbal nouns count
- Only imperatives count
- Action-meanings in participles and verbal nouns are included
Question 4
What relation explains “jarā al-nahr” (the river flowed)?
- Place
- Verbal noun
- Patient
- The proper agent
Question 5
What distinguishes rational figurative predication from lexical figurative usage?
- Both alter every word
- The former shifts attribution, the latter word meaning
- Rational figurative usage forbids indication
- Lexical figurative usage is only grammar
Question 6
What is the role of a qarīnah ṣārifah?
- Only to create rhyme
- To shorten a sentence
- To direct understanding away from literal predication
- To make all nouns indefinite
Question 7
In “ʿīshah rāḍiyah,” who is literally content?
- The water
- Time
- A place
- The person living the life
Question 8
What is notable about “sayl mufʿam”?
- The flood, as agent, receives a passive-type description
- The flood is time
- It is a negation
- It has no action-meaning
Question 9
In “shiʿr shāʿir,” what receives the poet’s quality?
- The poet’s father
- The poetry itself
- Time
- A place
Question 10
What is “jidd” in “jadda jidduhu”?
- A place
- An accusative cognate object
- An action-noun used as subject
- A preposition
Question 11
What kind of association underlies “nahāruhu ṣāʾim”?
- Patient
- Verbal noun
- Place
- Time
Question 12
What properly flows in “nahr jārin”?
- Water
- A tree
- The bank
- The river’s name
Question 13
Why can building be attributed to a prince?
- He is the place of the city
- He causes or commissions the construction
- He is its time
- He is a verbal noun
Question 14
Which construction is relevant in “aʿjabanī inbāt al-rabīʿ”?
- A vocative only
- A broken plural
- An action-noun in a genitive relation
- A negative command
Question 15
Is every factually mistaken predication automatically figurative?
- Yes, every false claim is figurative
- Only in poetry
- Only in past tense
- No; belief and intended attribution matter
Question 16
Why need “nimtu al-layla” not be figurative predication?
- The sleeper remains the subject; night is an adjunct
- Night is the subject
- It has no meaning
- No time is stated
Question 17
Whose act is linked with “makr al-layl wa-l-nahār”?
- Water flowing
- People plotting over night and day
- Fasting
- Composing poetry
Question 18
What association is prominent in the verse on recurring morning and evening?
- Cognate object
- Rejection of simile
- Time and causal succession
- A demonstrative
Question 19
What should be identified first when analyzing rational figurative usage?
- Rhyme
- Only letter count
- Poetic meter
- The action-meaning and overt bearer
Question 20
Why is “kataba Zaydun” literal in an ordinary context?
- Zayd is presented as the writer
- A book is made time
- A verbal noun is mentioned
- There is negation
Question 21
Which fact alone is insufficient to establish rational figurative predication?
- Explaining the action’s association
- The listener finds the claim factually wrong
- Identifying a contextual indication
- Identifying the proper agent
Question 22
What does “mulābis” mean in this discussion?
- Any unrelated person
- Only grammatical subject
- Something genuinely associated with the event
- Always the patient
Question 23
What changes between “ṣāma Zaydun nahāran” and “nahāruhu ṣāʾim”?
- Day is the agent in both
- The verb is deleted in both
- The meaning of fasting disappears
- The second assigns fasting to time
Question 24
What is the grammatical status of “ʿīshah rāḍiyah”?
- A valid descriptive phrase with figurative attribution
- It is ungrammatical
- It contains only a preposition
- It is an imperative
Question 25
Why is “shiʿr shāʿir” rational figurative usage?
- Poetry loses its lexical meaning
- A poet-quality is attributed to poetry
- The poet’s name is absent
- It is short
Question 26
What follows from figurative predication in genitive constructions?
- It must always be lexical metaphor
- Every genitive phrase is incorrect
- It is not restricted to finite verb subjects
- The genitive always specifies time
Question 27
What association does “baynihimā” convey in the cited expression?
- A reply particle
- Only a nominative subject
- Rhyme
- The relational locus of discord
Question 28
What is the sound approach when no indication is established?
- Be cautious and investigate context
- Declare all expressions figurative
- Call all expressions ungrammatical
- Omit the Arabic
Question 29
Which group consists of the relations discussed?
- Rhyme, paronomasia, antithesis, meter
- Agent, patient, action-noun, time, place, cause
- Cases and recitation signs
- Syntactic functions only
Question 30
Why does the next discussion classify kinds of rational figurative predication?
- Because it belongs only to metrics
- Because reports have no predication
- Because the definition and associations prepare for classification
- Because all predication is figurative
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