Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Zahra Movazebi ¹
• Ebrahim Ebrahimi ²

¹ Ph.D. of Qur'an and Hadith Studies, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

² Professor of Qur'an and Hadith Studies, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

What is the concept of "God" as an unknowable being and how to represent his relationship with other beings are among the issues that have been the focus of religious scholars with different approaches. It seems that cognitive semantics, since it pays attention to what and how a concept is, can lead the way in analyzing the conceptual structure of "God". The upcoming research aims to explain the concept of "God" by using cognitive metaphors in the domain of "ownership" in order to show the structure and representation of the concept of "God" in human perceptual memory within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory. For this purpose, metaphorical mappings related to the domain of ownership, which played a role in the representation of the abstract concept of God, are identified and extracted, and are classified based on the type of mapping between the domain of origin and destination. Finally, the results of the research are in the form of Likoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory and in the framework of cognitive linguistics. The result of this research shows that metaphors have cognitive and communicative functions and have the ability to provide a clear and understandable format for difficult and intangible concepts. Among the other achievements of this research is the explanation and analysis of the conceptual structure of "God" in the language of the Qur'an with the cognitive model of a personal God, and in the form of a "relationship between one person and another person" with the fields of origin: father, king, patron, borrower, and buyer. These cognitive domains have an allegorical relationship with God's essence.
Introduction: The concept of "God" as an incomprehensible being, and its relation with other entities, has been a topic of scholarly interest in the field of religion. Scholars have approached it from various perspectives, but cognitive semantics, which focuses on the nature and structure of a concept, can be helpful in analyzing the conceptual structure of "God" in the Quran.
 Literature Review: The present research can be examined in terms of subject and method. From a methodological perspective, research has been conducted in the field of conceptual metaphor in Quranic and Nahj al-Balagha studies to prevent the elongation of speech. We introduce some of these works: Andalibi (2006) in the article "Abd, a canonical metaphor in cognitive human" refers to the cultural role of the metaphor "human as a servant" and discusses the cognitive people's view of the relationship between servant and lord as a social institution. Qaemi-Nia (1388) in a research on the topic "The Role of Conceptual Metaphors in Religious Thought", has analyzed the cognitive position and effective role of metaphor in creating new ideas and directing religious thought, and has addressed the impact of metaphor on Islamic thought and worldview. Pourabrahim (1396) in the article "Humanization of Abstract Concepts in the Language of the Quran from a Cognitive Perspective", examines the humanization of abstract concepts in the Quran cognitively and shows that in the Quran, the tangible pattern of human and person is used as a metaphorical existential type to express abstract concepts. From the subject In relation to the analysis of the conceptual structure of God in religious texts, an Book by Vincent Brummer(1992) titled "Speaking of a Personal God: An Essay in Philosophical Theology" . The author in that God explains His relationship with humans in the form of a personal and legal relationship of "employer and employee" "love relationship" and explains this relationship based on conceptual models. Also  article by Tavakol Nia (2018) titled "The Function of Conceptual Metaphors in Explaining the Concept of 'God' in Nahj al-Balagha. But so far, no research has been done to explain the conceptual structure of "God" in the Quran with the conceptual domain of "person" and in the form of the conceptual metaphor "God as a person".
Methodology: In the present study, the concept of "God" has been elucidated using cognitive semantics approach and descriptive-analytical method by using cognitive metaphors in the domain of " Possission " and related conceptual models The objective is to demonstrate how the cognitive structure and representation of this concept of "God" can be explained within the framework of the theory of conceptual metaphor. In the process of forming this research, first, verses from the Quran that were related to the conceptual notions of ownership and had efficacy in conceptualizing the concept of God and perceptibility of the idea of Him are identified and extracted. In the next step, with consideration of the metaphorical linguistic expressions, corresponding conceptual models are determined. Then, the results of the investigations are analyzed within the framework of the conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff and Johnson, and finally, based on the meanings of words and interpretations, the cognitive analysis of the relevant verses is presented.
Conclusion:The results indicated that metaphors have both cognitive and communicative functions, making them a useful tool for providing clear and comprehensible structures for complex and abstract concepts. This is accomplished by systematically mapping the features of the source domain onto the target domain, enabling one conceptual domain to be understood in terms of another. Another valuable outcome of this study is that indicates that In the infrastructure of many Quranic metaphors and similes that address the concept of God and His relationship with humans, the conceptual metaphor "God as a person" is used, in which the conceptual metaphors of "God" are based on human and social relationships and His characteristics. Based on this in the language of the Quran, the concept of God and the perception of Him are modeled on the cognitive framework of a person-to-person relationship. This framework is based on relevant conceptual components associated with human emotions and experiences of relating to others, such as king, father, protector, buyer, and lender, as represented in the source domain and in the form of conceptual metaphors "God is a king", "God is a buyer", "God is a father" and "God is a protector " is understood.  These cognitive domains share a figurative relationship with the essence of God. Moreover, by invoking the concept of God in the mind through conceptual metaphors, various tangible aspects of the concept of God become apparent, which would not be understood without using cognitive models or figurative language.
 

Keywords

• Quran
• Possession
• Concept of God
• Conceptual Metaphor
• Generic Metaphor
• Specific Metaphor

Main Subjects

• قرآن پژوهی