By adding the phrase “in the meaning for which it was first coined,” we have likewise ruled out figurative usage.
The literal (ḥaqīqah) is further divided into three kinds: linguistic, legal, and customary.
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The linguistic literal is a word used in the sense for which it was coined within the language itself. By inserting the qualification “within the language,” we exclude the legal and customary literals. An example is ṣalāh: in purely linguistic terms it means “supplication,” and that is how the word is understood in the discourse of the philologists.
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The legal (sharʿī) literal is a word used in the sense for which it was coined in the Revealed Law. By adding the qualification “in the Law,” we exclude the linguistic and customary literals. Thus ṣalāh in legal usage denotes the well-known sequence of specified words and actions that begin with the takbīr and end with the taslīm; this is the meaning intended in the discourse of jurists and theologians.
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The customary literal is a word used in the sense for which it was coined in common usage. By specifying “in customary usage,” we exclude the linguistic and legal literals. For instance, dābbah in everyday speech refers to any four-legged animal, and this is the sense intended in ordinary conversation.
The benefit of distinguishing these three kinds of literal meaning is that each word may be assigned its proper literal sense according to the context in which it appears: in linguistic discussions we adopt the linguistic literal, in legal contexts the legal literal, and in everyday speech the customary literal.
- The figurative (majāz) is a word employed in a sense other than that for which it was first coined, such as calling a courageous man a “lion.”