پژوهشهای تفسیر تطبیقی (Nov 2016)
The Comparison and Criticism of the Concept of Metaphor in Allamah Tabatabaii and Shanghiti's View
Abstract
Employing metaphor, irony, figurative expressions and other rhetorical figures is one of the most obvious expressive miracles of the Holy Quran, on which men of letters and rhetoric are unanimous. Commentators, however, disagree on their employment in the Holy Quran. Allamah Tabatabaii, a Shia commentator, accepts their employment while Shanghiti, a contemporary Salafi commentator, denies it, though both of them agree on the real employment of the Quranic terms as a principle and reject literal metaphor and figurative expressions as far as possible. Allamah Tabatabaii, however, believes in employing metaphor if the literal aspect of the term contradicts with rational meaning and its context, and tries to justify the relevant and real employment of the Quranic terms through proposing different theories. It seems that the theory of "the spirit of meaning" proposed by Allamah Tabatabaii and the theory of "rejection of metaphor" proposed by Shanghiti converge in upper level, but have fundamental differences. The present paper reviews and compares these theories. Allamah Tabatabaii does not totally reject metaphor, but limits its employment in the Holy Quran by relying on the theory of "setting terms for the spirits of meanings", and talks about metaphor and irony wherever a contradictory example exists. Shanghiti, however, basically rejects metaphor and irony on the basis of a theological approach. Kazem Ghazizadeh[1] Seyyed Muhammad Ali Ayazi[2] Leila Malek al-Shoaraii[3] [1] Assistant professor of department of sciences of the Holy Quran and hadith, Tarbiat Modarres University, [email protected] [2] Assistant professor of department of sciences of the Holy Quran and hadith, Azad Islamic University, Sciences and Research Branch, [email protected] [3] Corresponding author, PhD student of sciences of the Holy Quran and hadith, the Qom University of sciences of the Holy Quran and Hadith, [email protected]
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