In ʿilm al-bayān, simile displays a resemblance, metaphor transfers an expression or image across that resemblance, and kināyah leads from a stated meaning toward a related intended meaning.
«رَأَيْتُ أَسَدًا»
“I saw a lion.”
With a contextual indication that a brave man is intended, the expression is metaphorical; if the animal itself is intended, it is literal. The isolated wording cannot settle classification without context and communicative intent.
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Representative and Implicit Metaphor, Imaginative Attribution and Kināyah
In ʿilm al-bayān, simile displays a resemblance, metaphor transfers an expression or image across that resemblance, and kināyah leads from a stated meaning toward a related intended meaning.
«رَأَيْتُ أَسَدًا»
“I saw a lion.”
With a contextual indication that a brave man is intended, the expression is metaphorical; if the animal itself is intended, it is literal. The isolated wording cannot settle classification without context and communicative intent.