The Linguist

28 The Linguist Vol/63 No/1 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES Ruqaya Sabeeh Al-Taie considers the translation of metaphor as a rhetorical style in religious Arabic text T he translation of historical texts presents a range of hermeneutic difficulties. The full range of such difficulties is encountered by modern English- language translators of Arabic texts written in the first millennium. This is principally due to the complexity of the Arabic classical language in which they are written, which is inaccessible to Arabs who have not made it an object of study. Even the spoken language at that time was richly poetic in terms of figures of speech, imagistic tropes and elaborate similes, metaphors and metonymies. This meant that contemporaneous readers/listeners would readily understand complex and elaborate rhetorical devices (RDs). The reality is, of course, markedly different today. Arabic- speaking countries use spoken dialects that vary considerably from one country to another, so the language has become fragmented to a large degree. Classical Arabic is now reserved for more formal activities, such as conferences, educational events and interviews, as well as the recitation of the Qur'an. Translating a historical text to modern life offers a clear set of challenges, which are accentuated when the text has a religious flavour and the target audience is from a totally different culture. The tools and techniques used may vary greatly from one translator to another and depending on the target audience. To explore the translation of metaphor as an Arabic rhetorical style, I conducted a comprehensive examination of the Nahǧ Albalāġa ( ; ج ٱ ة lit. 'the path of eloquence'). This collection of 241 sermons, 79 letters and 489 sayings is attributed to 'Alī Ibn 'Abī Ṭālib (d. 661CE), the successor of the prophet Muḥammad. Including advice, epistles and aphorisms, it has significantly influenced Arabic literature and rhetoric. Collected and compiled by Aššarīf Arraḍī, the Nahǧ Albalāġa (NA) covers subjects such as theology, literature, social justice, history, asceticism, economics, ethics and worship, spread across a variety of themes. Political writings can mostly be found in the letters, social themes are raised in many sayings and sermons, and what might be termed scientific text is found in the sermons, relating to the creation of the world and the description of different kinds of animals. The NA requires careful exegesis at both linguistic and referential levels. Most utterances, especially those that are culturally embedded, carry connotative meanings that are, by and large, restricted to the linguistic and cultural systems of the language in which they are produced. Inference becomes a significant challenge for the translator. Literal translation can be problematic, especially when it comes to metaphorical expressions. Understanding metaphor According to Abdul-Raof, 1 metaphor ( إ س ت ع ا ر ة ; i'sti ā'ra) involves "borrowing a feature from someone or something and applying it to someone or something else". Alḥāšimī argues, perhaps rather vaguely, that a "metaphor is a concise simile, but it is more rhetorical". 2 What he means by 'concise simile' is that comparison markers such as 'the same as', 'as' and 'like', as well as the vehicle and topic, are omitted. This creates speech that is more rhetorical and impactful. In the metaphor 'I saw a lion in the school', for instance, the simile source is 'I saw a man brave as a lion in the school'. The topic ('the man') and the comparison marker ('as') are deleted. The waǧh aššabah ('ground') – i.e. Rhetorical questions Before we approach the translation of the Nah ǧ Albal āġ a into English, we must consider why we are translating it

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