كُونُوا حِجَارَةً أَوْ حَدِيدًا
Be stones or iron.
“Be stones or iron” exemplifies ihānah, humiliation. The expression derides the addressees’ assumption that resurrection is impossible; it is not literally instructing them to transform themselves into stone or iron.
Contrast taskhīr, which centers on imposed transformation, with ihānah, which centers on belittling and exposing the weakness of a claim. Morphology alone cannot mark the difference.
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The Imperative: Form, Basic Meaning, Rhetorical Uses and Timing
كُونُوا حِجَارَةً أَوْ حَدِيدًا
Be stones or iron.
“Be stones or iron” exemplifies ihānah, humiliation. The expression derides the addressees’ assumption that resurrection is impossible; it is not literally instructing them to transform themselves into stone or iron.
Contrast taskhīr, which centers on imposed transformation, with ihānah, which centers on belittling and exposing the weakness of a claim. Morphology alone cannot mark the difference.