and His saying: “Neither heaven nor earth wept for them.” [al-Dukhān: 29] Another kind is inversion, as in His saying: “He brings forth the pasture” [al-A‘lā: 4], “then turns it into dark stubble.” [al-A‘lā: 5] The intended arrangement and literal meaning are: He brings forth the pasture dark green, then turns it into stubble.

Another kind is metaphor, as in His saying: “Evil is what your faith commands you to do.” [al-Baqarah: 93] Faith does not literally command. Likewise, He says: “Indeed, prayer forbids indecency and wrongdoing.” [al-‘Ankabūt: 45] Prayer does not literally forbid. He also says: “A wall that wanted to collapse, so he set it upright.” [al-Kahf: 77] Inanimate things cannot possess a will. And He, Exalted is He, says: “Lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy.” [al-Isrā’: 24] Humility does not literally have a wing. Such usage is so abundant in the Quran that its instances are beyond counting.

Ibn Khuwayz Mindād, one of the scholars of our school, stated that there is no figurative usage in the Quran. His argument is that the Quran is true, and that what is not literal cannot possibly be true. This is a manifest error, for truth and literal usage are entirely distinct: truth is the opposite of falsehood, whereas literal usage is the opposite of figurative usage. An expression may be used literally while the statement is false, or figuratively while the statement is true. For example, if you saw a man fight and acquit himself splendidly, and said, “Today I saw a lion fight and acquit himself splendidly,” you would have spoken the truth without using the expression literally, since you called the man a lion when he was not actually a lion. Conversely, if you said, “So-and-so fought fiercely today,” when he had not done so, you would have spoken falsely while using the words literally, without any figurative usage.

Section

Literal usage falls into two categories: explicit and indeterminate.