Metaphorical Representation of Faith (Imaniyat) in Holy Quran and Modern Linguistics

Abstract

Traditionally, the studies and analyses of metaphor have been conducted in the context ofrhetoric, literary studies and literary works. Hence, it was mostly associated with figurative language, considered only atype of “artistic embellishment”, and something different from everyday language.([i]) Charteris-Black regards metaphor as “a linguistic representation that results from the shift in the use of a word or phrase.”([ii]) In this context, Ross suggests metaphor as “giving the thing a name that belongs to something else”.([iii]) However, the empirical work from cognitive science in the last two decades is the most important advancement in metaphor theory. It shows that metaphor is not only a linguistic figure, or a rhetorical device, but it forms an essential part of people’s everyday imagination, thought and reason.([iv]) Many psychological and linguistic studies have discovered a wide variety of spheres of human experience (e.g., causation time, spatial orientation, anger, , understanding, ideas, , understanding, etc.) to reveal the incidence of various metaphorical systems in our daily thought, as these ideas are manifested in people’s everyday verbal expressions.([v])Metaphors provide us with new insights. They involve creative imagination to achieve a new point of view thus helping in reorganizing, emphasizing and suppressing the primary subject. This rearrangement determines the subject’s relevance the degree of relevance.