Liquid Wisdom: Conceptual Metaphors and the Cognitive Ecology of Political Rhetoric in 7th Century Islamic Conflict
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examined the conceptual metaphors employed by Imam Ali during the Battle of Siffin (657 CE). Through systematic rhetorical analysis of Imam Ali's speeches and letters, the major metaphorical schemas that structured his political-military discourse were identified and categorized by the research. The findings revealed sophisticated conceptual systems rather than isolated figurative expressions, with each metaphorical domain---water/thirst, light/darkness, path/journey, body/physical, animal, fire/heat, and commercial/exchange---serving as comprehensive cognitive frameworks through which complex political and theological concepts were rendered accessible to his audience. This analysis demonstrated how Imam Ali's metaphors exhibited strategic adaptation to changing military circumstances, integrated theological and political dimensions, and frequently created conceptual space for reconciliation despite the conflict context. The remarkable sophistication of these 7th century metaphorical systems challenged simplistic notions of metaphorical development and offered valuable insights for contemporary understanding of political-religious discourse. This study provides the first ecology-aware, CMT account of Siffīn that models metaphor as integrated, adaptive systems linking ethical–theological commitments to tactical reasoning.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
References
-Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. (1999). Understanding the Qur’an: Themes and style. I.B. Tauris.
-Amir-Moezzi, M. A. (2011). The divine guide in early Shi‘ism: The sources of esotericism in Islam. State University of New York Press.
-Ansari, H. (2013). Early Islamic political rhetoric: Language and authority in the first Islamic centuries. Brill.
-Boaz, M. (2020). Governance and religious authority in early Islamic discourse. Cambridge University Press.
-Cameron, L., & Maslen, R. (2010). Metaphor analysis: Research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities. Equinox Publishing.
-Charteris-Black, J. (2004). Corpus approaches to critical metaphor analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
-Charteris-Black, J. (2014). Analysing political speeches: Rhetoric, discourse and metaphor. Palgrave Macmillan.
-Charteris-Black, J. (2018). Metaphors of Brexit: No cherries on the cake? Palgrave Macmillan.
-Crone, P., & Hinds, M. (1986). God’s caliph: Religious authority in the first centuries of Islam. Cambridge University Press.
-Donner, F. M. (2010). Muhammad and the believers: At the origins of Islam. Harvard University Press.
-El-Sharif, A. (2012). Metaphors we believe by: Islamic doctrine as evoked by the Prophet Muhammad’s metaphors. Critical Discourse Studies, 9(3), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2012.688209
-Evans, V. (2010). Figurative language understanding in LCCM Theory. Cognitive Linguistics, 21(4), 601–662. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2010.020
-Fausey, C. M., & Boroditsky, L. (2011). Who dunnit? Cross-linguistic differences in eye-witness memory. Language and Cognitive Processes, 26(7–8), 1485–1509. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2010.492642
-Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2008). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. Basic Books.
-Gibbs, R. W. (2017). Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge University Press.
-Grady, J. E. (1997). Foundations of meaning: Primary metaphors and primary scenes (Doctoral dissertation). University of California, Berkeley.
-Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.
-Hawting, G. R. (2016). The first dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750. Routledge.
-Heinrichs, W. P. (1991). Hand of the northwind: Opinions on metaphor and the early meaning of istiʿāra in Arabic poetics. In Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta (Vol. 44). Peeters.
-Hodgson, M. G. S. (1977). The venture of Islam: Conscience and history in a world civilization (Vol. 1). University of Chicago Press.
-Izutsu, T. (2002). Qur’anic worldview: A philosophical interpretation of the fundamental themes of the Qur’an. Routledge.
-Johnstone, B. (1991). Repetition in Arabic discourse: Paradigms, syntagms, and the ecology of language. John Benjamins.
-Kövecses, Z. (2020). Extended conceptual metaphor theory. Cambridge University Press.
-Lakoff, G. (2008). The political mind: Why you can’t understand 21st-century American politics with an 18th-century brain. Viking.
-Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
-Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
-Madelung, W. (1997). The succession to Muhammad: A study of the early caliphate. Cambridge University Press.
-Mazid, B. M. (2007). Cowboy and misanthrope: A critical discourse analysis of Bush and bin Laden cartoons. Discourse & Communication, 1(4), 433–457.
-McFague, S. (1982). Metaphorical theology: Models of God in religious language. Fortress Press.
-Musolff, A. (2004). Metaphor and political discourse: Analogical reasoning in debates about Europe. Palgrave Macmillan.
-Musolff, A. (2016). Political metaphor analysis: Discourse and scenarios. Bloomsbury Academic.
-Rahman, F. (1980). Major themes of the Qur’an. Bibliotheca Islamica.
-Santa Ana, O. (2002). Brown tide rising: Metaphors of Latinos in contemporary American public discourse. University of Texas Press.
-Semino, E. (2008). Metaphor in discourse. Cambridge University Press.
-Shah-Kazemi, R. (2008). Ali: The voice of human justice. Kazi Publications.
-Soskice, J. M. (1985). Metaphor and religious language. Oxford University Press.
-Steen, G. J. (2007). Finding metaphor in grammar and usage. John Benjamins.
-Stetkevych, S. P. (1993). The mute immortals speak: Pre-Islamic poetry and the poetics of ritual. Cornell University Press.
-Stetkevych, S. P. (2019). The poetics of Islamic legitimacy: Myth, gender, and ceremony in the medieval Mediterranean. Indiana University Press.
-Trim, R. (2007). Metaphor networks: The comparative evolution of figurative language. Palgrave Macmillan.
-Van Gelder, G. J. H. (2012). Classical Arabic literature: A Library of Arabic Literature anthology. New York University Press.