and his words:
“Two utterances are light on the tongue, heavy in the Balance, and beloved to the Most Merciful: ‘Glory be to Allah and praise be to Him; glory be to Allah, the Magnificent.’”
And his words:
“A man may utter something pleasing to Allah, never imagining how far it will carry him, and Allah records His pleasure for him on account of it until the Day of Resurrection. A man may utter something displeasing to Allah, never imagining how far it will carry him, and Allah records His displeasure against him on account of it until the Day of Resurrection.”
And his words:
“Since leaving you, I have said four utterances which, if weighed against everything you have said today, would outweigh it: ‘Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of His creation; glory be to Allah in a measure equal to the weight of His Throne; glory be to Allah to the extent of His own pleasure; glory be to Allah to the extent of the ink for His words.’”
Since every noun, verb, or particle occurring in speech is qualified rather than unqualified, a literal expression cannot be defined as one that conveys its meaning when left unqualified and stripped of every accompanying contextual indicator.
If it is said, “Only some contextual indicators are meant, not others,” the reply is: “State the distinction between a contextual indicator with which an expression is literal and one with which it is figurative. You will never find a way to establish a sound, intelligible classification on that basis.”
Further evidence of this is that scholars have disagreed over whether, once a general expression has been specified, its use for what remains within its scope is literal or figurative. Likewise, when a command is intended to indicate recommendation, is its use literal or figurative?
Within most schools there are two views on this: the followers of Ahmad have two views, the followers of al-Shāfiʿī have two views, and the followers of Mālik have two views. Some have assumed that this disagreement extends to connected specification, such as a descriptive qualification