broader than that. Through predominant usage, this broader meaning came to be understood whenever these expressions were used without qualification, rather than their original, specific meaning. This is like other expressions that customary usage has extended beyond their original scope, such as “neck” and “head,” as in His saying:

“Then the freeing of a slave.”

It may be said that this is a case of implication, since freeing the neck necessarily entails freeing the rest of the body. Hence the jurists disagreed concerning someone who says, “Your hand is free if you enter the house,” whereupon the slave’s hand is cut off and he subsequently enters the house: is he emancipated? There are two views, depending on whether this is a case of emancipation extending from a part to the whole or a case of 'ibāda (worship). The correct view is that it is a case of 'ibāda, meaning: “You are free if you do such-and-such.” Letter-based and Sharīʿah-defined literal usage are recognized in the language.

He said: “And so on, to countless instances of figurative usage?”

They replied: “In the examples cited under this heading, either the meaning is disputed, or the meaning is agreed upon and the dispute concerns calling it figurative. In either case, it provides no evidence for your position.”

An example is His saying:

“O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold! And the water subsided.”

It has been said that “sky” here means rain—that is, “O rain, cease!” But that is not so. Rather, ceasing means withholding: “O sky, withhold your rain.” Those making such claims frequently take expressions with well-known meanings and claim that they are used