Question:
Dear Shaykh Gibril,
Assalamu alaikum.
1. Are the verses below, examples of metonymy in the Quran?
a. “Help God, He will help you” (47:7)
b. “Verily those who har God” (33:57)
c. “…those who wage war against God” (9:107)
2. What is the Arabic word for metonymy?
JazakAllah khair
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
It is definitely called majaz, i.e. figurative or metaphorical, and possibly majaz al-naqs or elliptic metaphor because it presupposes a missing word in each case, as shown in the commentaries, for example al-Baydawi:
a. “If you support the Religion of Allah and His Prophet”
c. Those who wage war against the Awliya of Allah and His Messenger.
As for b. al-Baydawi said that Allah was mentioned out of magnification for the Prophet, since the full verse states: {Verily those who harm Allah and His Messenger} (33:57). In the case of Allah of course it is definitely majaz just as in c. as stated by al-Jassas in Ahkam al-Qur’an (chapter on Hadd al-Muharibin) “since it is impossible that Allah be fought” and similarly it is impossible that He be harmed.
Metonymy in Arabic is majaz tasmiya.
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name of one thing is used in place of that of another associated with or suggested by it, e.g. “Dar” (house) for “tribe”.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
