dc.description.abstract | This study examines the emergence of metaphorical language in the Prophet Muhammad’s
sayings and tradition. It principally argues that the selection of metaphors in the Prophetic
discourse is chiefly governed by the rhetorical aim of persuasion. Additionally, the
Prophetic metaphors are discursively used to express a distinctive Islamic doctrine and
ideology that embody the laws, principles, and beliefs of Islam.
The study is anchored by the theoretical framework provided by the cognitive
theory of metaphor developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson and corpus-assisted and
critical metaphor analysis approaches introduced by Jonathan Charteris-Black. The critical
analysis of the Prophetic metaphors acknowledges the impact of the most frequent and
significant metaphoric source domains appearing in a corpus compiled from the Prophet
Muhammad’s sayings and tradition. These metaphors are introduced to an audience on the
basis of Islamic religious beliefs in addition to the socio-cultural experiences and
knowledge of pre-Islamic Arabs and early Muslims of the time.
This study demonstrates the Prophet Muhammad’s reliance on metaphorical
language in introducing unfamiliar Islamic notions such as Islam and faith, rulership and
Islamic laws, and rituals and unlawful practices among many other notions. The abstract
nature of these concepts necessitates the use of conventional metaphors which provide
epistemic and ontological information about the topics in hand. In addition, the study
argues that behind his didactic discourse, the Prophet Muhammad’s selection of metaphors
reflects a distinctive ideological perspective by which Muslims and non-Muslims are
distinguished within the realm of spiritual life. Finally, the study establishes the persuasive
impact of the Prophetic metaphors with reference to the three Aristotelian propositions: the
ethical, emotional, and logical.
The study provides the first effort to analyse conceptual metaphors used in the
Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and tradition on the basis of modern cognitive and critical
approaches to metaphor analysis. Furthermore, this study builds upon the findings of
previous studies on critical metaphor analysis of metaphors employed in other religious
discourses, such as the Bible and the Qur’an; so, it draws attention to the need for more
study of metaphors in Islamic religious discourse | en_US |