What is your opinion on the issue of metaphor or the issue of figurative language in the Qur'an, given that there is disagreement on it?

The questioner : The issue of metaphor or figurative language, meaning in the Qur'an, is a reality. When a person reads the words of some scholars who permit figurative language, he is convinced. And when he reads the words of our Shaykh, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), he is also convinced to some extent. So what is your opinion, Shaykh, on this issue? We ask for brevity because the road is short. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : My brother, the disagreement is verbal and formal, first of all.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Then, if you see Ibn Taymiyyah denying figurative language, and you may see him affirming it in some examples he addresses and refutes, remember the rule established by those who advocate for figurative language. They themselves say: "The default in all Arabic speech is literal meaning." If the literal meaning is impossible, it is turned to figurative language. Ibn Taymiyyah does not depart from this, but he may differ from them in two things: first, in terminology, and second, in application. He does not call what others call figurative language "figurative language"; he does not call it figurative language.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : This is first, in terms of terminology and application. Those who spoke of literal and figurative meaning expand greatly in their claim of figurative language, contradicting this expansion with the rule. I know.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : They contradict the rule they established, which is: "The default in Arabic speech is literal meaning." Now, if you observe these constraints, does something new become clear to you, or not? Or did I continue speaking and it did not become clear? If it did not become clear, I will give you an example. What do the scholars of literal and figurative meaning say?

The questioner : They say it is figurative here.

The Shaykh : Now, Ibn Taymiyyah says no, this is not figurative language. Why? Because when an Arab reads this verse, the meaning called technically "literal" does not come to his mind, so he flees from the literal to the figurative.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : The literal meaning does not come to the Arab. The second meaning, which they call figurative, is the meaning that comes to the Arab. So Ibn Taymiyyah says this is the literal meaning of the Arabic composition. Did you understand?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Now, this is in terms of what I told you: a verbal difference.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Now, let us come to the difference in application. If Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in the Noble Qur'an: Why do they say this is figurative and not literal? And they say if the literal is impossible, it is turned to figurative. Where is the impossibility of the literal? That Allah comes in a manner befitting His greatness and majesty and what befits Him of all His perfections. Where is this impossibility? So they expanded here and there, and there Ibn Taymiyyah differs from them.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. I understood when I took a course in rhetoric at the university. I took some opinions that one can, I think al-Rummani or someone similar to him, extract a figurative meaning from every place. I was astonished and said, Glory be to Allah, it seems they are expanding in a strange way, meaning from every word one can extract a figurative meaning.

The Shaykh : You are disabling the language, my brother.

The questioner : You are disabling the language, meaning.