رأيت أسداً
I saw a lion.
If context identifies a courageous man, this is metaphor: courage is vividly affirmed by calling him a lion. By contrast, “I saw a man equal to a lion in courage” explicitly states a comparison concerning one quality.
The first does not prove some extra external fact over and above the comparison. It asserts the quality more emphatically, which is the specific rhetorical advantage at issue.
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Taʿrīḍ, Talwīḥ, Ramz, Īmāʾ and Ishārah; the Rhetorical Force of Figurative Speech
رأيت أسداً
I saw a lion.
If context identifies a courageous man, this is metaphor: courage is vividly affirmed by calling him a lion. By contrast, “I saw a man equal to a lion in courage” explicitly states a comparison concerning one quality.
The first does not prove some extra external fact over and above the comparison. It asserts the quality more emphatically, which is the specific rhetorical advantage at issue.