Qurʾanic Lead Metaphors and the Unfolding of their Religious Meaning: Considerations on the Theory of Metaphor and Transtextuality Applied to the Qur’an and Its Exegesis

Abstract This article explores the Qur’an and its exegetical tradition as transtextual phenomena by analyzing Qur’anic metaphors and their development within a diachronic framework. Drawing on Gérard Genette’s theory of transtextuality and Paul Ricœur’s concept of the living metaphor, the study introduces the notion of Qur’anic lead metaphors as focal nodes in metaphor networks. These lead metaphors – such as the Way metaphor in Sūrat al-Fātiḥa – are central to the Qur’an’s literary structure and play a formative role in the production of religious meaning. Building on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the article argues that Qur’anic metaphorical language is rooted in embodied cognition and image schemas that shape religious discourse through mappings between source and target domains. The investigation highlights the limitations of existing CMT-based studies and proposes a transtextual methodology that integrates corpus-based approaches, semantic sensitivity to Classical Arabic, and attention to the Qur’an’s compositional logic. The study emphasizes the importance of viewing Tafsir and related genres such as Sufi literature as hypertexts that respond to and reinterpret Qur’anic lead metaphors. By situating Qur’anic metaphors within a networked system of diachronic elaboration, the article provides a framework for understanding the Qur’an as both a sacred canon and a dynamic, meaning-generating text.