This study compares metaphor use in traditional and contemporary Islamic perspectives, revealing doctrinal conflicts and the role of semantics.
This study shows the concept of metaphor as a central hermeneutic mechanism in religiousdiscourse, through a critical comparison between two visions:- The traditional vision (represented by Judge Abdul Jabbar al-Asadabadi - the leader of theMu'tazila), which focused on employing metaphors to protect divine purity and negateembodiment, relying on reason and the controls of placement and intention.- The contemporary vision (represented by Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid), which expanded theconcept of metaphor to include historical and cultural contexts, and revealed the problems ofunderstanding resulting from the neglect of the development of linguistic semantics.The study revealed that the hermeneutic differences between Islamic sects (such as theI'tizali and the Ash'aris) reflect doctrinal conflicts, and indicated that the limitation of languagemakes the metaphor a necessity for the complete expression of meanings, and the resultshighlighted the need for hermeneutic studies to link the text to its comprehensive context(linguistic, grammatical, social, and historical) to avoid semantic shifts.
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Damad et al. (2025) studied this question.
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