, elegies, and martial verse”—it is clear that, if distinguishing between literal and figurative usage is a valid terminological convention, this convention is more deserving of acceptance than that of those who regard most speech as figurative, or even those who regard every restriction by an adjoining qualification as figurative.

Such a person thus regards as figurative His words:

“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by people—those who are able to make their way there.”

And His words: “Then seek clean earth.”

And His words: “Then the freeing of a believing slave.”

And His words: “Then fasting for two consecutive months.”

And His words: “Then from among your believing slave women whom your right hands possess.”

And His words: “And chaste women from among the believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture before you, when you give them their dowries, seeking chastity, neither committing fornication nor taking secret lovers.”

And His words: “So woe to those who pray, who are heedless of their prayer.”

And His words: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, nor regard as unlawful,” through to His words: “until they pay the jizyah in submission, humbled.”

And His words: “Then if he divorces her, she is not lawful for him thereafter until she marries another husband.”

And His words: “Do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated.”

And His words: “And do not have sexual relations with them while you are in devotional retreat in the mosques.”

And His words: “You shall have half of what your wives leave if they have no child.”

And His words: “But if you have a child, they shall have one-eighth.”

And His words: “The recompense for an evil deed is an evil deed like it.”

And His words: “Unless it is an immediate transaction that you conduct among yourselves.”

And His words: “For his parents, each shall have one-sixth of what he leaves if he has a child. But if he has no child and his parents inherit from him, his mother shall have one-third.”

And His words: “And whoever kills a believer